Wanted Dead or Alive
by greenspace
Summary: A descendant of the great kings of Númenor, a Ranger, but certainly not a hero. She was too modest or too indifferent to call herself that. Many considered her more than a hero for what she had survived from. To herself, though, she was nothing. All needed was a quest, to become everything for someone.
1. The Ranger's past

**It was eating me alive to write a story about Kili from like the fourth or fifth time of seeing the Hobbit at the cinema and literally drooling over every scene he was in. Also, yes, I've read the book, but I plan to follow the timeline of the movie.**

**Disclaimer: This is a work of non-profit fan fiction using some characters from the Hobbit/LotR world and I don't claim any credit for them. I only own ****the characters of the Ranger, her parents and brothers, who were born from my -I'd like to hope- creative subconscious. **This story is for entertaining purposes only and is not part of the official story line. I'm grateful to J.R.R. Tolkien for his great inspiration to create the wonderful world of Middle Earth and to P. Jackson for transferring it to the big screen. **I hope you read it and like it!**

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_Her father was Aranion, son of Arador, Chieftain of the Dúnedain Rangers. Her father, as was his older brother, was a Ranger. He met her mother, Caladhiel, when he rescued her from a group of orcs that had captured her and some other elves, as they traveled through the southern lands of Eriador. They were married and had a son, Aranethon, and two years after him they had a daughter, her. Seven years later, her little brother, Aradan, was born. All three of them were born in Rivendell, where their mother was from, and stayed there for some years. Soon, her mother's desire to offer her services as a healer, not only to the Elves but to the race of Men too, made them wander in many different villages across the shores of Bruinen. Her father spent most of his time with his fellow Rangers and rarely visited them, keeping the fact that he had a family a secret, even more now that they did not reside in the safety of the Hidden Valley._

_____Both she and her brothers had been taught how to wield various weapons, such as sword, bow and knives, from a young age. She_ was almost 18 years old, when Aranethon was going to join the Rangers, so she begged her father and uncle to let her join as well. They eventually accepted, and brother and sister started travelling around the lands of Middle Earth with their father and uncle. D_uring one of their patrols, they fell upon a group of orcs and her uncle was killed by an arrow piercing his eye. The title of the Chieftain was temporarily passed on to her father, until her uncle__'s only son would come of age and claim it._

_A few months later, they confronted another group of the enemy that tried to kill them. They barely managed to get away, fact that let her father to decide the villages of Men were not anymore safe enough for her mother and little brother and that it should be wise to take them back to Rivendell. However, some of the foul creatures had caught their scent, followed them and burned down the whole village. This was the night that her parents and brothers were killed._

_Once this was done to her family, the majority of them marched to possibly destroy a nearby village and their leader ordered two orcs to stay behind and guard her. They had tied only her hands and left her hanging from a wooden bar, when she started thinking what they were about to do to her when the rest would come back. No, she could not let them do that. She would not let them do that. She preferred to die right that moment than face the imminent humiliation and torture. She was not one to cry easily, but the tears__ were running down her face involuntarily now. __Were they caused by the sorrow over the loss of her family or by the vehemence of struggling to get free from the chains and the pain of the small bruised scars that were created around her wrists? She never gained the courage to question herself about it._

_One of the two orcs came closer. Close enough for her to see his eagerness to become their toy in his strange, repulsive eyes. No other feelings were known to her apart from pain and burning rage, but those were enough to fuel an unknown strength inside her. A strength that, by some kind of miracle someone could say, set her free and granted death to both her current captors.__  
_

_Her only wish was to hunt the rest of them and take revenge for the death of her family on the same night, but sense prevailed. So she did what her instinct told her; she ran away. From everything and everyone. Weeks passed while wandering in the wild in an awful situation, ragged and barely able to stand up. Until a small light of hope appeared, when she finally reached Rivendell and was welcomed back. Her uncle's son, the only one of her kin left alive, was already there. As they were both told, all their ancestors were raised there before them, for their line was one that needed protection. For weeks she stayed there and then left alongside her cousin to rejoin the Rangers._

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**This is mainly the prologue, and it may not reflect the story entirely to your eyes. So please give it a try and move onto the next chapter, which is the actual beginning.**


	2. Chapter 1

**The previous chapter was only explaining her past. This is the actual first chapter, where she officially enters the story. Elvish translations at**** the bottom. Please review, I want to know if you like it or not!**

******Also, a small piece of information. I was thinking of adding a verse of a song as a title for each chapter, because it fits to the content. The verse for this chapter is ********taken from 'Wanted dead or alive' by Bon Jovi. The song was also the inspiration for the story's name.**

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_Sometimes I sleep, sometimes it's not for days, and the people I meet always go on their separate ways******  
**_

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_Hanging from a wooden stick, her arms were tied up with chains. The __ο__rcs were massacring them and she could do nothing about it. She heard their screams mingling with hers, as they would eventually die one after the other. Death would be happily acceptable, now that her most beloved people in the world were slaughtered by those creatures. Their leader had ordered them to murder everyone but her, a fact that should terrify her but she paid no mind to it right now. All she cared about was her father, her mother and her brother, yelling and straggling to get free. She was trying to reach them, save them from their inevitable destiny, but could do nothing. One final scream pierced the air as she saw the now dead, covered in blood, bodies of her parents lay on the ground._

Her eyes opened up abruptly as she woke up from her slumber, suppressing a scream at the back of her throat. The same nightmare haunted her for the past ten years, almost every time she fell asleep, which was a notably rare occasion. This time it happened because she had not slept in days. She didn't know for which reason her Chieftain would scold her now, having not slept for over five days or fallen asleep during the patrol.

A cold breeze blew and the Ranger inhaled deeply, trying to control the shudder of her body and calm. Some sounds resembling words reached her ears and she tried to understand what were they and, mostly, where they came from. She had after all, some part of elvish blood in her veins, since her mother was an elf; hence, the exceptionally good hearing and eyesight. She quickly jumped on her feet, grabbing the quiver of arrows and her bow from where she had laid them beside her while resting and started climbing the tree. She sat on a branch soundlessly, waiting for the source of the voice to become visible.

There she saw them, in a distance that they could not catch her scent, five of the creatures that caused her unbearable pain in the past. Orcs. She wondered why and how they had come so close to these lands without being caught by her fellow Rangers. They were talking in their own language, which was a little familiar to her, so she could just hear them without being able to completely understand what they were saying. She only caught a few words such as 'bridge', 'scum' and... 'kill' and those were more than enough to figure out that they were planning to kill someone, near the bridge over that small stream a few miles away.

She once had sworn to revenge her family's horrible death and kill every orc she would encounter in her life. And that she did, but still felt incomplete. She knew that no revenge would fill the emptiness inside her. No revenge would bring them back.

She waited for the five orcs to move further and blew a soft, almost singing, whistle in the air. Not long after, a beautiful chocolate brown horse emerged from the tree shadows of the small forest, coming close to her with a fast, yet quiet pace. She petted his muzzle, before mounting him. Urúvion escorted her only if she had great need of him, usually when she had to travel a rather large distance.

"Noro lim, Urúvion", were her only words to him, before he started galloping.

While riding towards the bridge ahead, she could feel her patience growing to an end, wanting to extinguish the foul creatures as soon as possible. Also, a small bit of curiosity flushed through her, wondering about the victim's identity and the reason they were planning to kill him.

Quickly approaching the small stream, she saw a few yards in front of her a man ride a pony to the bridge and the five orcs hide on the opposite bank behind a large rock placed above the stream. He didn't seem to notice them and if he had, he hid it very well. She also caught the distant sound of hooves coming closer, but paid little mind to that, as she dismounted Urúvion and run to the rock. She quietly climbed on it, so as the five orcs were beneath her and placed two arrows at her bow, aiming two of them.

The man on the pony slowly crossed the bridge to pass on the other side of the stream, when they made their move to attack him. Having the element of surprise on her side, she let the arrows fly and they hit directly at their target, making them squeal in pain. Automatically the rest of them, including the man on the pony who looked quite surprised, turned around to see her jump down the rock behind them, with a wild look in her eyes and her daggers ready to kill. The two of the remaining three orcs took a fair share of time to realize what was happening, so they quickly had their necks sliced by her blades. The third one had enough time to take out his sword and charge.

As the fighting with the persistent orc took place, she took a glimpse of a pointed grey hat and caught the familiar sound of hooves, marking the arrival of someone she had not seen in a very long time.

This instantaneous distraction was enough for the orc to grab a small knife hidden in his muddy clothes and point it to her lower torso. The moment she realized she was cut, her rage was set on fire. She hastily glanced at the newly acquired wound near her stomach which was bleeding, and then to her opponent who eyed her with a fearful look. With a harsh and abrupt move she lunged at the orc, her left dagger clashing with his sword so severely that it fell on the ground.

Now her daggers were crosswise his neck, as a low snarl find its way from her throat, "Who sent you?"

No answer came except from a growl, because of the sharp blades touching his disgusting skin.

"Speak or die" she warned, tightening the grip. The choice was given just for a dramatic effect. Naturally, the orc would suffer the same fate whether revealing something or not.

Again, no answer.

"Die it is then" she said in a merciless tone and finished him off, the shrieking sound of the blades cutting his neck hushed by a groan coming from her.

When she put her daggers back to their sheaths, she turned around to see the two men stare at her. The one who rode the pony had now dismounted it and was gawking at her with a weird look in his eyes, having grip of his sword. She gave him a blank look and made her pace to the other, who was smiling at her. Walking towards them, she observed the height difference between the two, presuming the first to be a dwarf; a tall one though.

"_Now, this will be intense"_ she thought ironically, preparing herself for the worst. She was aware of the hatred the dwarves harbored for the elves. Even if she wasn't an elf, she still had elven blood running in her veins. Obviously the dwarf didn't know that she had been of elvish ancestry, but there was going to be quite a show if he found out. Of course, she had no intention to disown her mother's race because of a stupid prejudice. She smiled to the man with the pointy hat and moved to greet him. "Mithrandir!"

"Mae g'ovannen, mellon nin" he replied, giving her a big smile.

"Gwenwin in enninath."

"Your fighting skills are as remarkably impressive as I remembered them to be."

"And just by those words, I assume that you're up to something" she said mirthfully, but in a matter of seconds her expression turned serious and she threw him a wary, suspicious look. "What do you seek from me, Gandalf?"

"How did such an absurd thought even cross your mind?" came his slight protest, as he took an impossibly innocent look upon his face.

"I am familiar enough with you and your ways for years now" she said with a knowing look.

The wizard chuckled. "Oh and I thought I could play it out for more this time; you and your Chieftain always catch me." He paused and sighed. "I heard you had a patrol close to these parts and to be honest," he continued slowly, "I was in search of you, for I have to ask you to join a quest."

Thorin gasped in surprise; it surely could not be _his_ quest. How did the wizard take the liberty to reveal his plans to a complete stranger? "Gandalf, don't I have a word in that?" he said, almost growling at her.

She shot him an observing look considering the, somehow strange for someone that short, intimidating appearance and arrogant attitude. However, she held herself and said nothing in reply, waiting for Gandalf to continue.

"Oh, how ill-mannered of me. My dear, let me introduce you to the leader of this particular quest, Thorin Oakenshield" said the wizard, casting a cautious look to the dwarf and an intense one at her.

At the sound of his name, her eyes went wide. "So you are Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror" she acknowledged and did her best to discreetly hide her surprise. "_The mighty King under the Mountain, hence the royal appearance and the not at all amiable behavior_" was the mentally added part for her ears only. Afterwards, with a highly displeased pout, she noticed the look Gandalf paid her and huffed. "I am Arya, a Ranger of the North" she said brusquely and offered him a faint nod with her head.

Thorin regarded the woman with an examining glance. She was standing quietly two yards away with her hands loose at her sides, yet in a distance from her belt that she could easily reach for her sword if something sprouted up. She was towering him something more than a whole head, but was still shorter than the wizard, and, as she had just truthfully declared, was dressed and equipped like a Ranger; dark grey cloak with the distinctive star-shaped clasp and in possession of a considerable amount of weapons. He had once heard of female ones, but had not believed it. Females had no business in the Wild or in battles, putting themselves in such danger. Of course, the race of Men had enough women, so they could perhaps spare a few; although it still seemed very wrong. In any case, even if he didn't know her, she had saved his life and he was obliged to behave, at the least, decently.

She recorded the the dwarf's curt nod -his rather rude way of greeting more accurately- and the subsequent eye roll from Gandalf. "I wonder if that quest of yours is the reason those orcs attempted to ambush you" she aptly pointed out.

Thorin scowled. "My quest is no concern of yours, Ranger."

Annoyance started bubbling in her chest. "Yet, if it wasn't for me, it would not even begin."

Her wry remark made the dwarf frown even more and Gandalf think it as the right moment to intervene. "Indeed, my dear. How did you know about those orcs?"

"I heard them discussing their plan. I did not catch but a few words, thus considered it wiser to check for sure."

The dwarf peered curiously at the woman, his eyes gradually narrowing in distrust. "Did they not catch your scent?"

"I was in a fair distance from the foul creatures, so as not to catch my scent."

Thorin started getting suspicious. "How did you hear them then? Human ear could not catch the sound from a large distance" he grunted and his body went rigid, his instinct telling him that the worst was yet to come.

"_Here we go"_ she thought. "I am not entirely of the race of Men, master dwarf. My mother was an elf and I have inherited the vision and hearing of her people."

It seemed like a fire burst behind the dwarf's eyes and, as soon as his ears caught the word 'elf', nothing else seemed to matter. How was it possible to have one of his enemies to join him? "I will not have an _elf_ join my company" he growled in disgust, clenching his fists.

"Thorin, you owe her your life!"

But the King was furious and had no intention of being subtle about it. His voice was filled with disdain as he spat out, "I owe nothing to her."

"At least you have to offer some help for her injury. Do not forget that she saved you" Gandalf chided and then returned his gaze to the Ranger, observing the red spot that formed on the white fabric under her black corset. "My dear girl, I think you might need a healer for your cut" he noted, pointing his hand at the direction of her stomach, and glared at the King who nodded, albeit with great reluctance.

Arya stared down at her wound, observing the slight purplish black hue of the skin around it; meaning that the blade was probably dabbed in poison. "It would be most kind of you to aid me" she mumbled sarcastically, rolling eyes at the dwarf who had already turned his back to them. With that, she called Urúvion to come to her and the three of them mounted their horses. Even the smallest movement made her grimace from the pain, ending up to her riding impatiently to Ered Luin to take care of the nasty cut.

During the ride both she and Gandalf stared at, what now seemed as a fuming, ready to explode Thorin. _"Ah, just the perfect way to start a quest that will probably take months. Arguing with the leader"_ she thought. She decided that if she was going to be a part of the quest, she would have to get along with the dwarf, but all the thoughts were forced to be buried deeply in her mind, as the view of the city's gates came to her sight.

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The moment her foot stepped to the city, Arya realized she was slightly dizzy. Naturally that was nothing compared to other conditions she had made her body tolerate. This time though was different, because she hadn't eaten and slept in days; or perhaps the poison was already spread through her body.

As soon as they arrived, Gandalf escorted the now pale Ranger to the healer. He had to make sure she would be taken care of, to have the time to discuss with Thorin her addition to their journey. Once the wizard left her in the healers' hands, he made his way over to Thorin, who waited for him in the room where the councils were held. Entering the room, he faced an angry dwarf King almost ready to snap at him, which he actually did.

"She is not coming with us. I will not allow an elf to join us!"

"I would not expect you to" the wizard said and smiled. "She is not an elf, she just possesses some traits of their race. Some very important traits" he pointed.

"Her race is the one that betrayed my people. Her race is the reason that we live here and have to embark upon this quest."

"No one can control his ancestors! It is not her fault that she is of elven blood and you should not be so harsh about it. Only her vision and hearing are more advanced; the only signs that show her ancestry."

"Still Gandalf, she is a woman! A very young woman. I doubt she is as experienced as I or the others are."

"She is a Ranger. One of the best in all Middle Earth if I may say. She is highly experienced in battle and will be an invaluable asset to the company."

"I care not if she is one of the best or even the best, I will not allow her to come. She will be a distraction for my men" the King said in a tone that hinted he would not have an objection to his thoughts.

"Thorin, stop making excuses to forbid her from joining! You asked me to find you the fourteenth member of your company and I also found you a fifteenth one with great and helpful skills and thorough knowledge of the roads ahead. You can accept them both or stuck with thirteen companions and receive all the bad luck you want. You must trust me when I say she is experienced. Despite your large age difference, she has been through a lot in her life of 28 years that you cannot fathom. So much that no one, especially a woman, should have been through."

The wizard's voice was booming and echoed in the hall out of the large room now. What none of them were aware of was the fact that Arya, who had her wound healed and wrapped up, was standing outside of the room where the two men discussed rather loudly and heard the whole conversation with great amusement and slight irritation.

"_Oh, for the love of the Valar"_ the young Ranger thought exasperatedly. The dwarf did not even know her or her past, he had seen what she could do and still didn't want her to join.

"I will not have a traitor among those in my company_"_ Thorin deadpanned_,_ eager to end the discussion as soon as possible.

Before Gandalf being able to form words in his lips, she walked into the room, her long black hair wobbling over her shoulders and her dark eyes shooting flaming glares at the direction of the King. Thorin's eyes roved over the woman, simmering with distrust and unkindness, but also noticing the proud composure in her air and manner of walking.

"Would you please care to elaborate in which way I am a traitor?" she asked coldly.

"You descend from the _enemy_" he growled. "And my kin's legacy has to be protected from enemies."

She blatantly rolled her eyes, vexed by his attachment to the past, knowing that by enemies he meant her mother's race. "Why do you have to be so stubborn and cling to your prejudice? I feel deeply sorry for what happened to your people, but let me remind you of something. I was not even born then! In no way have I betrayed you or your kin" she reasoned. "Apart from that though, why do you insist on accusing only the Elvenking to such an extent for the misfortunes that have fallen upon you? Has it even occurred to you that he did not want to jeopardize the lives of his people in a battle where the odds were easily against them?"

"Do you mean to suggest that I do not value the lives of my people?" Thorin barked and took a threatening step toward her.

"I imply no such thing. I am simply stating facts that you, being so blind from your prejudice, deny to see from an objective point of view."

The dwarf let a scornful huff and cocked his head from side to side. "I expected nothing more from a descendant of Elves."

"Are you completely immune to any voice of reason? If it were up to me, I would do everything I could to help you back then. But this is something that happened in the past and you have to cope with it. You must learn to lose" she sighed softly. "And move on with everything you have at your disposal. Even if you have nothing." The last words were added bitterly.

True, in the wild, she had nothing. She was alone. To have everyone away from her was a choice she had made long ago and it was inconsiderable to act otherwise. Her closest people had gone on separate ways, meaning either death or travel. Her family was dead and her fellow Rangers traveled around the lands, never settling somewhere, just like she did.

The only person she had in the world now was her cousin and not many knew about their ancestry, or that they were even related. It was a piece of information kept in secret for specific reasons. There were many that would like to have the heir of Isildur dead and she had sworn to protect and keep him alive, even at the expense of her own life. If anything happened to her cousin, there was no other living male in the family to continue the line. It was just her; and no one would allow a woman to become the Chieftain, let alone claim the right to rule the Realms in Exile.

"You are a woman, a ragged Ranger" a growl escaped his lips. "Not someone of significance, not someone who has any clue of how to rule a kingdom. Not someone who has any right to lecture me on loss and defeat."

Arya cast a thunderous glare to the dwarf and her eyes blazed with anger so fierce, that her face had turned scarlet. "And those are the words of a said to be king!" she exclaimed and her shrill, crazy laughter filled the air. It was quickly wiped off her face as she in turn took a threatening step closer to him, grunting, "I have been acquainted with loss and defeat in a much more savage way than you think- "

"That is enough" Gandalf intervened and turned his attention to Thorin. "I will not have you offend our friends when you're not aware of their past._"_

"She is far from a friend. I will not be her protector and will certainly not bear the responsibility of her fate in my mind. She is _not_ coming" Thorin stated firmly.

Arya was becoming infuriated with the dwarf's stubborn attitude. Maybe her decision was not yet made completely, but Gandalf certainly must have had a very good explanation to search for her and ask her to come; explanation that was to be given in minutes' time and privately. "Thorin Oakenshield, accept the fact that what happened in the past stays in the past, and admit that you would do the same if you were in Thranduil's place. Furthermore, neither Gandalf nor I asked you to be responsible for my fate and I assure you I am more than capable of protecting myself. In fact, it is you and your comrades that will need my protection. Now if you stopped being such a bigoted, contemptible, narrow-minded person, you would see that I am no enemy and have been called upon to help you." She had eventually agreed, in her own way though. Someone had to put the dwarf in his right mind to make him leave his preconceptions behind, even if that meant calling him every name under the sun.

"Watch your tongue, Ranger. I am a king and you will talk to me with respect" the dwarf warned with a growl.

Her tensed shoulders slightly relaxed and she regained the calm composure and the coldness in her voice. "You are not my king. And if you want my respect, you have to earn it."

Thorin saw, that beside her young age, she was brave and had a fiery personality. Less than a handful of people could face him holding that attitude.

"You should do best to accept, before she regrets her decision" Gandalf advised, aware of the dwarf's thoughts.

Thorin was pissed off to no end and knew where the discussion was heading to and would have to agree to the addition of the Ranger in his company. He initially frowned, but eventually huffed resignedly. "Fine then. She shall come with us" he hesitantly grumbled with a knot in his throat.

She did not like that man. It felt like he considered her as a small child, who thought that could achieve everything, only to be disappointed facing the first difficulty, besides the fact that he hated her because of her ancestry. Yet, he did not know of her past. He just didn't know. "Arya. My name is Arya, in case you forgot."

"Of course, Miss Arya. Now let us discuss the details of our journey" said the King impatiently and sat at the table after Gandalf. Still he could not come to like her, let alone trust her. She was part elf for goodness sake. He had added a member in his company from the very people that betrayed his own.

While Gandalf explained their quest to her, the King's mind was working feverishly, mulling especially over his sister's sons. _"Aulë save us from my nephews."_ He knew they were young and it was her personality he thought that would distract them, save the fact that she was a woman and a rather pretty one for the standards of Elves and Men at least, he had to admit. When the information was over, she excused herself and headed to the market to get some food supplies.

"She is too feisty for an elf. I remember them being more prim and prudish" the King remarked once the two men were left alone and Gandalf shook his head frustratingly at his obsession with her ancestry. "Quaintly, she is very imposing. She could pass for royalty from the way she acts on certain moments" he added.

"_So you noticed"_ Gandalf thought, before revealing the truth. "She is."

Thorin gave him an inquiring look and crossed his arms in front of him, determinedly waiting to hear the rest of what the wizard was about to say.

"Our Ranger is no elf, as I told you before. Her mother was an elf and bequeathed only good hearing and eyesight to her daughter. Arya was born as human. However, even though mortal, she is one of the Dúnedain from her father's side." Gandalf paused and hesitantly added "Her father was Aranion, son of Arador."

The King was taken by surprise. "She hails from the line of Isildur?" He was aware of the terrible death of her uncle, yet not of the rest of her family. What she said before about loss now made sense.

"Yes. And I trust you to not reveal this fact to anyone. She does not wish that to be widely known for her own reasons" Gandalf warned him and the dwarf gave a curt nod. "She could get along very well with your nephews, I reckon" the wizard continued, a smirk forming on his lips.

Thorin shot him an exasperated look, mumbling, "I fear so."

With that, Gandalf bid goodbye to Thorin to let him discuss the quest with the other dwarf lords, who had been summoned in Ered Luin for that purpose. He went to the stables, for he was going to leave to find another member of the company, and found the Ranger preparing to leave as well.

"Really?" she inquired with a sarcastic look. "There may not be many Rangers left but, to accompany a bunch of Dwarves, you had to choose the _only one_ who descends directly from the Elves, didn't you?" She was already on edge because she had been on the receiving end of numerous prying glances and became the subject of whispers back at the market, not minutes ago; if so, justifiably. A human, let alone a female Ranger, was not the most frequent of sights in the midst of a dwarven realm.

The wizard just graced her with his usual secretive smile, which she had many times seen previously. "It will merely make the journey more interesting for everyone, don't you agree?"

"By all means" Arya replied, maintaining the sarcastic look from before. "Nasty piece of work he is" she mumbled under her breath. The last thing she wanted was the dwarves to hear her 'complimentary' remarks about their ruler. She could certainly live without having to face such a trouble.

Gandalf chuckled lightly. "He can be quite cranky if he chooses to, indeed" he said in a low voice as well.

Time was precious and she had already wasted a considerable amount of hers by discussing about the dwarf King's mood swings; there was a patrol she had yet to complete. "When shall we meet?" she asked, albeit not with much anticipation.

"In seven days' time. At night."

"Man sad?"

"Nad i Drann."

"Is there going to be a hobbit in the company?" she breathed out, surprised.

As expected, he did not answer the question. That man and his eternal riddles. He only smiled at her, before mounting his horse. "Boe i 'waen. Na lû e-govaned vîn, melon nin."

"Namárië'" she said quietly as she watched him leave. Apparently, he wasn't so deliberate to reveal his insistence of her accompanying them of his own volition, which only meant one thing; trouble for her. With these disturbing thoughts she mounted Urúvion and rode south-east to continue her patrol in the woods.

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**Not sure if they're all correct and also not so sure if they're all in Sindarin. If they are wrong, I'm so sorry and feel free to correct!**

**Noro lim = Run fast**

**Mae g'ovannen, mellon nin = Well met, my friend**

**Gwenwin in enninath = It has been too long**

**Man sad? = Where?**

**Nad i Drann = In the Shire**

**Boe i 'waen. Na lû e-govaned vîn, melon nin = I must go. Until next we meet, my friend**

**Namárië = Farewell**


	3. Chapter 2

**Thank you for the reviews good people, please keep 'em coming! If you notice some familiar quotes from TV series or films popping up every now and then, please don't take a dig at me, it's just that I wasn't able to resist incorporating them into the story. ****Enjoy!**

**Title taken from 'All that we see' by The Black Ryder.**

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_All that we see is all we think about and all these thoughts are better left unsaid_**  
**

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The Ranger was walking in silence, tightening her cloak and the hood that covered her head against the cold breeze, carrying all her battle gear along. She was slowly growing annoyed by the newly acquired cut that spread on her leg, caused by another confrontation with orcs. Thankfully, this time the knife was not poisoned, or else she would have departed this life by now. She was wondering again how they had come so close to these places, when a faint gleam on a door caught her eye. She tied Urúvion in a tree nearby, whispered something in his ear and left him there to rest for the night.

The dark cloaked figure crossed the stone path towards the small hobbit hole, where a blue mark was now visible. There were many voices heard from the inside; chuckles and slight protests as well, and she realized a rather large gathering was taking place. She could of course be there earlier, if Gandalf had the kindness to be more explicit about what village in the Shire she should go to. But it was Gandalf; which meant she had to search for quite a while to find the right village _and_ house.

With these thoughts buzzing inside her mind, she knocked three times on the round green door.

* * *

Thuds were heard on the door and all the noise stopped at once.

"Finally, our last member is here!" Gandalf exclaimed mirthfully and headed to the hall to open it.

There was a loud shuffling inside the hobbit hole, as thirteen dwarves, a hobbit and the wizard moved from the table. Then the door opened and the hooded, fully armed last member of the company entered the hall.

"Ai na vedui mellon nín" the wizard greeted.

The figure nodded in response and dropped the hood back, revealing the face they all were so curious to see. All the dwarves gasped at the sight of the person standing in front of them. Gandalf had skipped the part that the last member was going to be a woman and Thorin hadn't mention that either. Some of them looked in disbelief over a female warrior, others seemed rather indifferent and one of them tended to smile at her.

"You are late."

The kind look that graced her features may fell from her face, but she was completely unaffected by the King's wholly unnecessary reminder. "Was my presence required for anything in particular?" she asked dryly.

"No" Thorin's hoarse voice replied, as he sideways glared at Gandalf. Why the wizard had called for her was still beyond him.

"Then I am not late" she told him in a calm tone, though her eyes were challenging him to contradict her if he dared. She was injured, tired and seriously deprived of sleep. The last thing she wanted to deal with now was Thorin's rebuke just for the sake of demonstrating his leadership.

Many pairs of eyes belonging to all the dwarves present, save Thorin's who simply glared at her, goggled in a very comical way. Also a low grumble came from a stout, partly bald dwarf, who probably considered it disrespectful for someone to answer back to his king. She mentally smiled to herself, reflecting on the 'promising' journey ahead of them; two moody dwarves so far and still counting.

Gandalf loudly cleared his throat and stepped between them, placing a hand on her shoulder and nudging her to take a step forward. "Now this is Arya, a Dúnedain Ranger. She shall join you to your quest" he presented her to the others.

The Ranger gave them a small bow of her head and they started calling out their names one by one.

"Lady Arya, I am Bilbo Baggins. Pleasure to meet you" told her the small hobbit timidly. He had never seen a female Ranger before -not that he had seen a male one-, but from what folks who had traveled to Bree used to say during conversations in the Green Dragon's, only men were Rangers. Of course they had drunk more than one mugs of Gaffer's home brew, so they might as well have been talking complete nonsense.

She smiled kindly at his hesitance to even meet her eyes. "The pleasure is all mine, master Baggins. You have a lovely home" she said and he slightly cocked his head as thanks.

"My Lady, I'm Bofur", a man with a funny hat called to her, "this is my brother, Bombur", pointing to a chubby dwarf who gave her a smile, "and this is our cousin, Bifur." She stared at the dwarf, trying her best to disguise her surprise when the axe in his head caught her eye, and nodded. The dwarf with the axe spoke a few words, which she thought them to be in Khuzdul, and did not understand what he said. She smiled at him nonetheless, as the next dwarves introduced themselves.

Dori, Nori and Ori were also brothers, as were Oin and Gloin, and it finally came the stout dwarf's turn to introduce himself. Dwalin his name was and he could really make a grown up man shrink from fear at his sight. He gave her a curt nod and turned his eyes to Thorin, engaging in mental conversation with him. His older brother Balin, with the long puffy beard, seemed less fear infusing and even gave her a small smile. The last two were, as she reckoned from their looks, the younger ones in the company, Fili and Kili. But she heard only the first one's voice, who was kind enough to offer her both their names. The other one did not bother to even open his mouth and only stared at her with pursed lips.

Still some of them eyed her curiously, not able to believe that she actually was a Ranger. She knew they would all take their time to at least find her likable, but was in a good path since she had saved their King. She was sure Gandalf had recounted the event before her arrival, to earn some positive views of her accompanying them. It would be far more difficult, if not impossible, to earn their trust though.

The dwarf with the blonde hair and braided beard, Fili, gave a reassuring, merry look, came closer and welcomed her. He was happy to have someone new in the company. A woman, in particular, would add an agreeable sense of light mood, or so he thought. Inadvertently his eyes roamed about her figure to check her out. Flawless face, raven black hair reaching above her waist, fiery dark eyes almost matching the color of her hair, and his thoughts rapidly came to a halt when he saw his uncle's stern, scolding look.

"_A dwarf that is actually more than polite to a descendant of Elves. Well, that certainly is a first"_ thought the Ranger, surprised and grateful for the blonde's quite amiable behavior.

Thorin was shaking his head in disappointment at Fili's reaction and rolled his eyes. _"I was sure she would be a distraction"_ he thought.

Kili on the other hand, surprisingly had a hard time comprehending her presence among them. He shared his uncle's view that quests and battles were not actions for women to take part in. He and Fili were practically begging him for weeks to allow them join and _she_ had managed to persuade him in the one day he had been acquainted with her? "_What in Durin's name is she doing here?"_ he wondered. He was sure that she was not going to live out of this quest and could not understand how his uncle allowed her to come in the first place.

He gave her an inspective look from the top of the head to the tip of the toes, observing every little detail. She was relatively short for a human, only a few inches taller than him and he was considered the tallest dwarf in the company. He also noticed the too many weapons she carried for her seemingly slender, weak figure. She had a bow, a sword, two daggers sheathed in her belt and many smaller knives hidden in various parts within her clothes. Curiosity veiled him as to what extend she could handle all those weapons. They seemed and, in fact, were heavy enough to carry around even on a horse, let alone walking. He was overwhelmed with a strange feeling for her... hatred? No, he couldn't possibly hate her, he had just met her. Worry? Perhaps. He was worried about the well being of everyone in the company but still, she was a woman, she was supposed to be weaker than them.

"Aren't you a little too much of a woman to come with us and a weak one of that, to carry all those weapons?" Τhe words left Kili's mouth, leaving Thorin agape in surprise. He was pretty sure that his younger nephew would be as excited in her presence as his older brother.

A gasp escaped the crowd when the woman had, in a blink of an eye, her two daggers around the young dwarf's neck.

"Don't you have a little too underdeveloped beard to come as well? And you don't want to start judging my fighting skills, because I can guarantee it will be the last thing you do in this life" the Ranger hissed in the same, slightly offensive tone he had addressed her.

Her words caused the other dwarves to chuckle, especially Fili, who was practically doubled up with laughter. Kili's face had taken a shade of red and he wasn't sure how he felt, embarrassed, angry, or both.

Gandalf's arms tried to lower hers to deescalate the tension, but she didn't move in the slightest. "My dear, I think it would be wiser if you didn't kill the King's nephew."

She hesitated for a moment, but eventually removed the daggers from his neck and put them again into their sheaths. Fili tapped his brother lightly on the shoulder to make him move to the table where the others were taking their seats. While walking to the table, he shot a heated glance over his shoulder to the Ranger, who was now leaving her weapons on a small table in the corner of the room. She unexpectedly lifted her eyes and met his.

* * *

As Arya removed her weapons, she felt eyes on her back and turned at the direction of the room everybody was heading to, only to find Kili's gaze lingering on her. Their eyes met briefly before he turned his head around. He had made her furious by choosing those words to insult her. The dwarf had surely been told that she was a Ranger. Did he need any additional proof that she knew how to fight? _"Like uncle, like nephew. What is up with this family and women?"_ the Ranger pondered with a sigh and made her way to the small hall where the table was. She realized that there were no spare chairs, so she placed herself against the wall next to Thorin and Bofur, to wrap her cut.

"How did you injure your leg?" the hobbit asked worried, his legs weak at the sight of her wound.

She shrugged her shoulders indifferently. "I happened to fell upon another group of orcs southwest of the Hills of Evendim." Her injury did not worry her as much as did the fact that strange creatures were beginning to stroll about close to the borders of the Shire.

"And you were all alone?" someone asked, shocked.

"Master dwarf, I believe it would take more than a few orcs to take a Ranger down. Even if that Ranger is a female."

Fili smiled at her quip, getting more and more excited with her presence there. "So did you kill any?" he asked eagerly.

"All of them" she said like it was a natural conclusion to presume, eliciting a low chuckle from across the table where the blonde dwarf sat. She then rested her leg on the side of Bofur's chair, removing her boots and socks, drawing her pants above her knee. Bofur was trying to draw himself as far away from her leg as he could. She dipped a small piece of cloth into a glass of water and cleaned the dried blood from the wound.

Kili found himself gawking intensely at her shank glowing bare, long and injured under the candle light. He felt something stir in his stomach when he noticed that it was hairless.

The cut might be small, but it was deep enough to cause an annoying pain that she was resolute not to unveil in front of them. After smearing a portion of a liquid over the cut from a pot Oin kindly handed her, she reached for a small bandage and carefully bundled it up over the wound.

When everyone's attention detached from the Ranger and her leg, the dwarves asked Thorin about the meeting in Ered Luin and if Dain was going to help them, only to be disappointed and make jeering sounds at his reply that the dwarves of the Iron Hills were not coming. Then Gandalf brought the map of Erebor in light to explain the quest to the hobbit. Arya wasn't exactly listening to them, she was still wrapping her cut when Balin spoke, raising a wave of reactions from the rest. What had she missed?

"We may be few at number, but we are fighters. All of us, to the last dwarf" said Fili in a loud voice, giving a discreet nod to Thorin. His uncle had agreed to let him and his brother to join the quest and both brothers were absolutely determined to make him proud.

Kili then piped up, "And you forget we have a wizard in our company. Gandalf would have killed hundreds of dragons in his time."

Gandalf's eyes went wide and he coughed uncomfortably. "No, I wouldn't say" he almost stuttered.

Arya made a great effort not to burst into laughter at the young dwarf's naive words and Gandalf's reaction, and a big smile crept up to her face. Being unable to wipe it off, she limited to discreetly cover her mouth to not show it. The dwarves started taking bets on how many dragons the wizard had killed, practically making just noise rather than talking, and were thankfully interrupted by a strong hand swatting the wooden table.

"Enough! If we have read the signs, don't you think others would have read them too? Rumors have begun to spread, the dragon Smaug has not been seen for 60 years. Eyes look east to the Mountain assessing, wondering, weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people now lies unprotected. Do we sit back, while others claim what is rightfully ours? Or do we seize this chance to take back Erebor?" Thorin's booming voice filled the room, raising the other dwarves in exciting yells.

Balin intervened, mentioning the main problem of entering the mountain, and all the voices piped down, frustrated. However, Gandalf took a small key out of his cloak and revealed that there was another entrance to the Mountain. So this is why they needed a burglar, an expert one as someone pointed, to enter the Mountain unnoticed by Smaug. Then a new round of voices and yelling echoed in the room as to if master Baggins was the one they needed or not, only to be shushed from Gandalf this time, who insisted that his choice was right. Arya knew the wizard well enough to not doubt his decisions and was not opposed to have the hobbit joining them. He seemed a nice and kind fellow after all.

Thorin handed Bilbo the contract to sign it and shifted to Gandalf's place to tell him the same words he had told for her; that he cannot guarantee his safety and won't be responsible for his fate.

Nobody seemed to pay attention to them, except Arya, who was listening amused. _"You are awfully repeating yourself, King under the Mountain"_ she thought, rolling her eyes at his words. Thorin cared only for his kin, which obviously did not include Bilbo and her, so she decided that she was going to help and protect the hobbit since they were both considered as the outcasts of the expedition. While all the dwarves spoke to each other about the quest, her eyes wandered in the room, pausing to look to a particular dwarf more that necessary. She saw that he was looking back and moved her gaze away, ignoring his hateful stares and sinking into her thoughts for once more.

Kili had nailed his gaze upon her, examining her every move, until his brother turned to talk to him and made him take his eyes off. Fili had caught the whole looking exchange between them and noticed his brother's demeanor towards the girl, as well as the frequent, hateful glances he paid her from the moment they met. He seemed to be, at the least, very annoyed at her presence.

The hobbit was still reading, when he made a pause over the word _incineration_, gradually missing the color from his face.

"Think furnace with wings. A flash of light, searing pain, then poof! You are nothing more than a pile of ash" Bofur's poor attempt to explain the term obviously did not have the results he expected.

The Ranger, as much as she wanted to laugh at his choice of words, slightly elbowed Bofur in his shoulder and turned to look at Bilbo, whose face now was a shade of white. "_Oh no"_ she thought.

"No" Bilbo said and passed out on the floor with a loud thud.

"That was very helpful Bofur, thank you" said the wizard, earning a small smile from her.

None of the others made a move to help the hobbit, so Arya quickly walked over him to see if he was alright. Gandalf came and stood next to them, too. "Bring me some water" she told no one in particularly.

A hand touched her and she turned her head to see an eager Fili smile at her, with a glass of water in his hands. She thanked him and poured some drops to Bilbo's head, and he seemed to react at the coolness on his brow. She passed the glass back to Fili and lifted the hobbit in her arms, dragging him to sit in an armchair. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Gandalf above him, ready to engage in a promising conversation to make him accept.

* * *

Fili was now sitting with Ori and Dwalin at the table and watched her straighten up the bandage. "I foresee epic quarrels between my brother and her. We are going to have fun!" he smirked with a conspiratorial look around, to check if Kili was near.

"Easy there, lad. We don't want them to rip each other's throat" Dwalin warned. He cast a cautious glance at the woman. Thorin had informed him of the Ranger's elvish ancestry, though having been born as human. Yet, she had saved his friend and King, so he was grateful for that.

The young blonde dwarf approached and invited her to come and sit with them. She gladly accepted it and made her way to the small table, sitting where Fili led her to, next to him.

"You know lass, for a descendant of Elves, you don't seem so bad."

Arya eyed him warily, undecided if he meant it as an insult. When she noticed the corners of Fili's mouth curling upwards, she realized they were just teasing her and a mischievous smile spread on her face. "Thank you. And you master Dwalin, for a dwarf, you don't smell as bad as I expected you to." For a moment she thought she had truly offended him, but the tension left her shoulders when all three of the dwarves burst into loud chuckles.

"That's some spirit you have there, Ranger" Dwalin said, his shoulders trembling from the laughter.

"I've been told so" she said at the laughing dwarf with a smile.

Fili watched her jest along with his companions. He considered her a fascinating female, even if she was not of dwarven nature as his past objects of interest were. In an act of chivalry, he puffed his chest out proudly. "My Lady, if you ever need protection during this quest, I would be more than glad to offer it to you."

Arya huffed, slightly annoyed by the offer of protection she got, being a female, yet rather amused at the dwarf's attempt to impress her. "I think I made my point of being able to fight when he," she pointed at Kili, "spoke to me before."

"Forgive me my Lady, what I meant to say is, I will help you if needed and that you can count me as a friend. And I'm sure that it was neither my, nor my brother's intention to offend your fighting skills."

"Fili, please call me just by my name, and you may count me as a friend as well. Also, my deepest condolences for having _him_ as a brother" she grimaced at the last words, causing the three dwarves to laugh heartily at the comment. Dwalin even clapped her shoulder.

"He is not that bad" Fili mumbled with a smirk.

Kili was standing next to his uncle and Balin, who were discussing in low voices, recording the whole scene of his brother and the girl. A need was created deep inside him to smack Fili upside his head. But why? He convinced himself that the feeling was caused by his brother talking with the person that had insulted and practically attacked him. "She should not come with us and certainly not talk with my brother" he hissed mostly to himself but Thorin and Balin heard him, raising their eyebrows.

"Kili, as much as I agree that she should not join us, you have my blessing to debate Gandalf on that matter." To this, his nephew replied nothing and turned musing. "But I assure you that she is more than able to defend herself. I happened to see her fight, as you know" Thorin continued, yet he still could not come to trust the woman.

"Lad, you saw her before- " Balin trailed off, when he realized it wouldn't be wise to make a reference to the prince's unfortunate encounter with the Ranger.

Kili sulked slightly, hoping that everyone would have gone around the event. He was the younger in the company and thought to have the quickest reflexes. The fact that a woman had caught him off guard certainly was not something to be proud of. In fact, it made him dislike her more than he probably should.

"Pray, what is the reason she should not talk to Fili?" Balin asked, eagerly opting to change the subject.

The young dwarf turned to face him and his uncle with a frown, grunting, "Because she shouldn't."

Balin saw the bitter look the younger prince was shooting to his brother, who was sitting unreasonably close to the girl, and in her turn was laughing at something Fili had said.

Kili angrily made his way to the door for the next room, passing by his brother and her, prompting both of them to turn and look at him. He was practically fuming at the fact that Fili had now his hand on her arm, and gave Arya a severe look. She paid him back with the exact same as he walked to the next room, whispering something in Khuzdul.

Fili's eyes followed his brother's pace, practically speechless from his cursing. Their mother would kick him endlessly if she heard such kind of words coming out of his mouth. He turned his head to continue talking with the Ranger, taking in her harsh look and the intensity in her gaze. She seemed truly steamed up at his brother's behavior. "I am sorry about him" he told her.

"There is no need to apologize, I know he is mad at me for what I said. It was not precisely my intention to threaten him." He briefly smiled and shot her a look of awareness of her small lie. "Alright it was" she admitted with a faint grin, which quickly turned into a scowl. "But I do not regret what I did, he certainly deserved it."

Feeling very awkward for a weird reason, Fili was ready to ask her if she was alright, but she spoke first.

"I will go out to take some air."

She stood up and walked heavily to the door that led outside, clenching and unclenching her fists. Closing the door behind her, she walked up to the small bench the hobbit had on his garden and let her thoughts flash through her mind, as the fresh night breeze grazed her face. She wondered why a specific arrogant dwarf was so opposed to her joining them, not able to reach a reasonable conclusion. She lied down on the bench, tired from the events of the day and looked at the beautiful night sky and the stars in it, remembering his stormy glances at her; _his eyes_ meeting hers. They were a weird color, the mixture of hazel brown and green, as if they were reflecting the colors of a forest in autumn.

Suddenly, low, deep voices filled the air. They were singing; it was a song for their lost home.

_Far over the Misty Mountains cold  
To dungeons deep and caverns old  
We must away, ere break of day  
To find our long forgotten gold_

_The pines were roaring on the height  
The winds were moaning in the night  
The fire was red, it flaming spread  
The trees like torches blazed with light_

The Ranger tucked the dark grey cloak tighter around her, not able to drive away the thought of a pair of -she had to admit- fine eyes looking at her and drifted off.

* * *

**Ai na vedui mellon nín = At last, my friend**


	4. Chapter 3

**Great thanks to those who reviewed, followed and favorited, as well as to those who read it of course! Anyways, the new chapter is here and it's all yours.**

**The verse is from 'Hurt' by Johnny Cash (originally by Nine Inch Nails).**

* * *

_The needle tears a hole, the old familiar sting, try to kill it all away, but I remember everything_**  
**

* * *

When the dwarves stopped singing, Thorin ordered them to find somewhere to rest until the morning that they would start their journey. Everyone found a place in the small house, bid goodnight and laid on their bedrolls, immediately falling asleep in a choir of loud snoring. Dwalin and Balin took the two armchairs in the living room, while Thorin rested on the small couch. His nephews occupied the space in front of the fireplace to be kept warm during the night.

Dwalin and his uncle were already snoring, his brother seemed to be asleep and only Balin was awake, when Fili thought of Arya. She had told him that she would go outside but he didn't see her coming back. Balin seemed to have the same thoughts as Fili and asked him where she was. At the sound of her name, Kili's eyes popped open. Fili told Balin that she had gone out long ago, but didn't return.

"Lad, go bring her in, she will get cold out there" Balin advised and Fili nodded, already heading to the door.

When he looked around the small porch he saw a figure lay on the bench, wrapped tightly with her cloak probably in an effort to warm herself up against the cold. He leaned down and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Arya" he whispered, giving a light nudge.

"She is sleeping" a soft, sleepy mumble came from her lips that made him grin.

"Arya, you're freezing here. We must go inside, come on" he urged, only to elicit a small moan and have her fall back in a slumber. He couldn't let her sleep here, she was going to be frozen in the morning. He had to take her inside. Yet, a sleeping human female was not his area of expertise, being only used to dwarven women. Putting his arms under her waist and knees, and with quite an amount of hesitation, he carefully lifted and carried her inside.

When Kili saw his brother with the girl in his arms, he reflexively clenched his fists and let a displeasing snort. As Fili let her down on the floor, between his and his brother's bedrolls, he noticed his brother's angry face. He purposefully ignored Kili's look, not bothering to ask out loud about the cause, wanting nothing more than to rest, and lied down, trying his best to cover her with his blanket to warm her. After a few minutes he fell asleep too.

* * *

_The sound of two voices filled the air. She thought she was going to be sick at the sight. They had already killed her parents and older brother, who were__ now being placed over the fire__, and now was the turn of her little brother. He was struggling to get free as they were ready to eviscerate him, preparing him to be burned as well. His howling was tearing her heart apart, aware that she could do nothing to save him, but scream. The knife was over his torso and a moment later, his voice had faded._

She was screaming. She was crying. Her body was twitching violently. Unable to open her eyes, she realized she was having a nightmare, gripping tightly on something. A pillow perhaps? She could not care less about what it was. The only thing that mattered was the same nightmare, haunting her every move.

When her wet eyes opened, she found three pairs of eyes looking over her tensed body, as her head rested on someone's shoulder. Realizing she was hugging her favorite dwarf, who now had his hand on her arm trying to keep her still, she removed his grip fiercely and pushed herself away from him. The influence of the nightmare was still there, getting more vivid by the day.

"What happened? Are you alright?" Fili asked with genuine worry in his voice and a frightful look.

The Ranger was unable to utter a word and just looked at him blankly.

Gandalf knew what happened and intervened. "She had a nightmare, that's all. Give her some time to recover and she will be fine." He nodded at her.

She nodded back and jumped on her feet, addressing Kili in an angry voice. "What are you doing?"

He looked at her, raising his eyebrow. "What do you mean what am I doing? Trying to sleep, but you obviously have a problem with that. You were screaming in my ear" he growled.

"You were hugging me, that's what you were doing. And I was unconscious" she almost yelled now, "I didn't mean to scream in your ear."

"_I_ was hugging you?" Kili burst. "_You_ were hooked on me and _I_ couldn't even move!"

"You might as well wake me up if I bothered you so much."

He sneered at her, his expression turning into a perfect mix of sarcasm and irritation. "Oh I am sorry for being nice, trying to calm you, keeping you warm and letting you use me as a pillow!"

She was ready to retort when Thorin, angry and bored with their fighting, rushed into the room. "Enough, both of you. You are acting like children. Get ready, we are leaving after breakfast."

Kili looked at his uncle, stood up and stomped all the way to the kitchen, while Arya grimaced at him, furiously taking the exact opposite path to get out of the house. Thorin followed his nephew to the kitchen, leaving Fili and the wizard alone.

"What was that?"

"Bad memories, Fili. Just bad memories" Gandalf mumbled and went to follow the others, with the young dwarf in tow.

In the kitchen everyone was talking about Bilbo, who was still sleeping, on whether he was joining them or not. Gandalf advised them to leave the contract behind, in case he decided to follow them.

Arya was out in the porch, trying to empty her mind from the annoying thoughts. Queerly, she wasn't thinking about the nightmare; she was impassive to it after all these years. It had become part of her, as subsequently had, her way of waking up screaming and twitching like some sort of lunatic. Now the only thought tormenting her mind was that they had seen her in such a weak state. She was always considered to be the strong one, the one who had survived and always would. She was also not used to sleeping with others, let alone hugging them. For the past ten years she was sleeping alone and now it felt more than weird. Setting aside all this, she forced herself to go get something to eat although no hungry at all and tentatively walked back into the house, thinking of whom she would face in the kitchen.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Fili observed his brother who was sitting in the chair next to him and barely touched the food in his plate.

"What's with all the yelling before? What happened?" a curious Dwalin asked.

The older prince was the first to answer, the memory of her screaming and crying still fresh in his mind. "Lady Arya did not wake up well."

"Why? Didn't the lass sleep well in your brother's arms?" Bofur teased and the others started snickering.

They had seen Kili and Arya sleep together while crossing the living room to go to the kitchen. He didn't then seem to mind being hooked on by her, in contrast to his earlier statement. She was curled closely against him, snuggling in his chest, and his arms were wrapped around her, before the pair woke up from her screams.

Kili looked incensed and almost swatted the table with his fists. "What do you mean 'in my arms'? She practically slept on me!" he protested.

"What's with the screaming then? You fought over who was going to sleep on top of the other?" someone said, prompting a new round of chuckles.

Kili was practically boiling on the inside, yearning to shoot an arrow at anyone who commented on that matter or on her.

"She just had a nightmare" Fili said quietly and the others' voices piped down. He was still mulling over the nightmare that made her wake up like she did.

When the Ranger came into the kitchen and the dwarves' view, all voices hushed and she saw fourteen pair of eyes stare at her. She didn't have to guess to know who was not staring, she tried to avoid looking at him as well. Gandalf and Thorin informed her about the contract they were going to leave in the house for Bilbo and everyone headed out of the kitchen.

* * *

When they were all ready, they headed out to prepare their ponies and horses.

Arya smiled when she went to wake and untie Urúvion. That horse, despite his admittedly high intelligence, was the definition of antic when sleeping. He had that dreamy look and, if her eyes were not mistaken from such a young age, he seemed to smile if that was even possible. The whole scene was simply hilarious and she felt slightly sad to wake him. At least one of them was sleeping well or, in her case, at least sleeping.

Thorin saw her stroll to where they were gathered. "When exactly do you plan on preparing to leave? We are not going to linger here because of you" he grumbled, earning a somewhat amused look from his younger nephew.

"Pardon me, _plan on preparing_?" she asked, ignoring completely his annoyed glare. "I am perfectly ready and good to go."

Kili fixed her with a look that said she was missing something overly important. "Your horse must be saddled" he told her dryly. Of course, the underlying meaning of the tone in his statement was, if she was so stupid to fail to notice the obvious.

Arya gave him a conspicuously dull look, but inwardly allowed herself to be far more pleased than she normally should be over the fact that it was him who noted this. "I have no need for a saddle to ride him."

Everyone except from the wizard stared doubtfully at the young woman, questioning her strange sayings.

She huffed at their desperate need for proof and on the spot mounted her horse to validate her claim. Urúvion remained as calm as ever and she glanced at the dwarves, who stared in awe, before turning to address the cranky King in a serious, but still somewhat wry tone. "I thought you said we were in a hurry?"

Thorin suppressed a growl in his throat and ignored her, mounting his pony and motioning the others to do the same. Kili was sulking over the wasted chance to enjoy the sight of his uncle reprimanding her and Gandalf, not so discreetly, was smiling along with Fili at the moody scowl that currently occupied Thorin's face.

"She undoubtedly is a compelling personage."

Gandalf tried to hide the amusement the conspiratorial comment brought him. "You haven't seen anything yet, Fili" he said with a smile. "You are all in for a treat."

The blonde prince stayed there to wonder what the wizard meant, before his brother's pony's pace caught his own.

Gandalf was now leading alongside Thorin, and the Ranger found herself riding behind them. After a while a distant sound filled the air and she turned her head to the source of the voice, her bow ready to fire the arrow she held. "Nad no ennas" she said vigilantly and Gandalf scanned the area around them.

"Speak in a language we can all understand" Thorin growled.

A mix of irritation and frustration blazed her eyes, as she nodded to Thorin. "Someone approaches" she whispered and the King immediately grabbed the hilt of his sword.

"_Wait!_" The distant voice was now crystal clear to her ears and she immediately lowered the bow and put the arrow back to her quiver, as the tips of her mouth curled in a smirk.

The rest stopped moving, when the voice came closer to them and the small hobbit made his appearance. He had eventually followed them and in between pants handed the contract to Balin, who was ready to check it.

"Everything appears to be in order. Welcome, Master Baggins, in the company of Thorin Oakenshield" said the old dwarf with a smile.

"Give him a pony" Thorin ordered.

Bilbo looked at him terrified and before he was able to pronounce a word, two hands belonging to Fili and Kili respectively, lifted him from the ground and placed him on a pony. Then, small pouches of coins started flying in the air above them, making her wonder.

The hobbit had the same thought as her. "What's that about?" he asked.

"They took wagers, on whether or not you'd turn up" the wizard answered. "Most of them bet that you wouldn't."

"What did you think?"

Gandalf let a sigh, quickly catching a small pouch coming at his direction. "My dear fellow, I never doubted you for a second" he said with a smile.

Bilbo suddenly started sneezing and made them all stop, as he tried to find his handkerchief.

"Master Baggins, you have to forget the luxuries of your home during this quest" the Ranger said with a smile and handed him a small clean piece of cloth to use as a handkerchief.

The hobbit let a sigh of relief and thanked her. After a while everyone had found somebody to talk to; even the hobbit was discussing with Dori about the Shire, leaving her again to sink into her thoughts.

Fili was having a heated conversation with his brother. "You have misunderstood her, brother. She is just spirited."

"Yes, I noticed that when she went to cut my head yesterday" Kili grunted.

"She was offended by your words. She was not going to kill you, you know that."

Kili was shooting her death glares. "Either way, I do not like her."

Arya felt someone's eyes digging holes on her back and didn't pay attention to Urúvion's pace. She ended up riding next to the brothers, who immediately put an end to their talk.

Fili's hard expression immediately changed to that of mirth. "Now, what brings our lovely Ranger back here?"

"I found no one to talk to, so I placed myself in the end of the queue" she said blankly.

"Well my Lady, you just found someone to talk to" he smiled. "We would be happy to oblige to what you would like most to hear, right brother?" he addressed Kili, who let a groan and moved forward, now riding next to Oin.

He might have moved forward, but for a weird reason his ears seemed to have been stayed behind. _"Fili, if you call me lady again, I swear I'll punch you in the face"_ he heard her say and inadvertently looked at her direction over his shoulder. A brief smirk appeared on his face, before realizing that he was actually staring at her way. The smirk abandoned his face and he immediately turned around, scowling, frustrated and annoyed; with himself or her, he didn't know.

Arya saw him and had to deeply bury the urge to throw her boot on the back of his head, just to revel over his reaction. It would be nice to have a reason to laugh for the next few weeks. But then she realized how childish this was and decided against it. Although able to keep her hands at bay, her mouth seem to have a will of its own. "Dôl gîn lost" a low hiss came from her lips, eyes still pinned on the dwarf's back.

Fili's face scrunched up in confusion. "Pardon me?"

"I merely point out that your brother's head is empty" she mumbled, irritation blazing every fibre of her body. "Does he honestly detest me so much?"

Fili watched as she had nailed her eyes on his brother's back. "He may still be a little mad to you about the incident the other night" he said cautiously with a smirk, prompting her to roll her eyes. "But he does not detest you."

"Well, apparently he doesn't like me either" she countered, confirming her suspicions from the look Fili gave her.

"So it would seem" he thoughtfully mumbled, more to himself rather than as reply to her. "Would you be willing to share a story with me?" he asked, trying to diverge her gaze and the conversation from his brother. "How could it be that a most elegant Lad- " he stopped midsentence when he noted her warning look. "Woman. A most elegant woman, such as yourself, decided to become a Ranger?"

She smiled. It was a question she heard frequently in all her years. "My father and uncle were Rangers, my brothers were going to be Rangers and my mother had been taught how to fight since her youth. I did not wish to sit back home, sewing, cooking and waiting for the men to return from the battles. Not that there is something wrong with this, but it's simply something I did not want to do. Thus, I told my father I wanted to follow the path he and his brother had chosen. My uncle was the Chieftain, so I begged him to accept me and my training began, when I was about eighteen years old."

"How old are you now?"

Arya shot him a supposed offensive glare. "Fili! You never ask a lady of her age!"

"You just told me not to call you a lady!" he said in the same accusing tone.

"I told you not to call me a lady, not that I am not one." She tried to say that seriously but barely succeeded, when she could not hold a chuckle any more.

Kili was still listening to what they were saying, letting the gurgling laughing sounds fill his ears.

"Your father and brothers are also Rangers? And they allowed you to join us alone?" Fili asked with an incredulous look.

Her smile disappeared and she turned her gaze straight ahead. "My parents and brothers were killed ten years ago."

"Oh." Fili felt stupid to ask so indelicately about her family and mentally smacked his head. "Forgive me. I did not mean to pry, or hurt you" he apologized, earning a dismissive look from her that it was fine.

Kili listened and momentarily felt bad for the girl. But quickly his old dislikeness returned.

"Even if they were alive, do you think they would be able to stop me from coming? Or would they be able to foil Gandalf's plans and schemes?" she told Fili with a conspiratorial smirk, who was glad his words didn't have an impact on her and smiled. "And to satisfy your not at all tactful curiosity, I am 28 years old."

A large smile danced across the dwarf's face, before he let a victorious cry. "Finally! My brother will stop nagging about being the younger one."

Her eyes twinkled at the sound of that. "How old are you?" she said, avoiding to ask baldly about his brother.

"Well, I have seen 82 years of this age and my brother 77, which makes you the baby of the group" Fili concluded with a grin.

"But you forget, my friend, I am human" Arya pointed. "So unless my calculation is incorrect, which I'm sure it is not, if you were of the race of Men, we would be fairly of the same age. Which would subsequently make all three of us the babies of the group."

That was not correct, for she was one of the Dúnedain. Their lifespan was that of three times longer than normal Men's, making it almost equivalent to the lifespan of Dwarves. So, indeed she was the baby of the group. Of course Arya knew that, but her pride would not let Fili call her a baby. He and Kili might have seen more years than her, but she had seen more battles and pain than them. They should thank their luck that they had not seen what she had. She observed the young dwarf, who was mulling over her words, desperately trying to find a mistake to prove otherwise. The tips of her mouth curled to a small smirk, seeing him so concentrated.

His eyes snapped back to her with excitement. "This doesn't matter! You are one of the Dúnedain" he said, but she had already spurred her horse in a canter. "You are a baby!" he exclaimed, as she rode towards the front of the line, and observed her closely for a brief moment. She resembled his brother a lot; her witticisms, her playfulness, her stubbornness and other similar features she possessed, would make her the perfect company for Kili. All these thoughts led him to wonder about the awry beginning of their acquaintance.

The Ranger looked at him over her shoulder and flashed him the bright smile of deceitful victory. Kili was not at all pleased with the exchange of looks and smiles between his brother and her and he was clenching his pony's reins with a resolute frown on his face.

"Interesting creature, is she not?" Fili pondered loudly, coming to ride next to his brother and startling him from his thoughts.

Oin, Bofur and Bombur, who rode in front of them, turned their heads to pay cunning looks to the blonde dwarf. "Ah, someone is in trouble" Bombur teased, while stuffing pieces of cake in his mouth.

"I would say so, judging by his look" Oin piped up, elbowing Bofur to play along.

Kili was silent and abruptly turned his head to observe his brother, his own face gradually taking a shade of red. He could decipher his brother's sentiments just by observing him, not because he was good at the art of rationalization, but because he had spend his 77 years of life with him and knew him like the back of his hand.

Fili simply shook his head and chuckled. "She is just a friend."

"Aye lad, that is where all starts from" Bofur added jestingly and the older dwarves snickered.

Kili's voice emerged cold from beside them, "Thorin and mother will not approve."

The older prince rolled his eyes at his brother's tenacity to constantly find something disagreeable to the woman or her company. "I didn't even say that I like her in such a way and you've reached to their approval?"

"She's a pretty lass" Bofur pointed, receiving nods of agreement from Oin and Bombur. "Although, the lack of hair is a put off."

Fili grimaced and rushed to her defense, "She is not a dwarf woman. Human women do not grow beards. Still, even without one, she is very charming."

"What about you lad, don't you think she's good looking?" Bofur inquired, seeing Kili had not responded.

"Merely tolerable" he remarked dismissively.

"Brother!" Fili scolded him, his eyes wide in surprise and disbelief. "To declare this woman _merely __tolerable_ is a crime."

"Then convict me to death" Kili countered, sending his brother a dull glare. "You might as well save her time from trying to kill me again."

"So you tell me, that even if she was a dwarf and had the most fetching beard in Ered Luin, you would still consider her simply tolerable?"

"I would, yes" Kili deadpanned and galloped away from them, seeing that the conversation was getting out of hand. He had no intention to admit something like that _ever_ in his life, especially about _her_. He still couldn't figure out what it was about her that bothered him so much.

"Honestly, I don't know what has gotten into him" Fili mumbled, rolling his shoulders. The ability to decipher his brother's thoughts and feelings did not only apply to Kili, but to him as well. This was the first time that the older prince was unable to comprehend his brother's discomfort around her, no matter how hard he was trying.

"Don't trouble yourself, lad. They might get along better in the future" Oin reassured him and their ride continued with talking, singing and every other way their time could be filled with.

Somewhere in the front, some faint parts of the conversation reached the Ranger's ears, but they were enough for her to figure out the general topic of discussion. She was never one to care about her looks or seek attention from the opposite sex, but many a time her male acquaintances had complimented her on her graceful appearance, which fact's logical interpretation was that she was pleasing or at least decent to look at.

Arya thought that Kili possibly considered her a mortal enemy, judging by the glares he gave her or what he mumbled under his breath every time she was around him. However, she was positive that the words behind these murmurs were more or less mild compared to what he was thinking of her. It was perfectly clear, and he had taken it upon himself to remind her of it whenever he could, that his prejudice towards her knew no bounds -a legitimate nephew of Thorin Oakenshield, no doubt. Either with a sentence or even a word, he would find a bloody way to just irritate or even deprecate her. Now the thought only, of him actually admitting she was pretty, was simply comic if not viable, and made a chuckle desperately trying to find a way out of her system and her desperately trying to prevent it.

Kili's pony was cantering towards the front of the line. The moment he passed next to the Ranger's horse, he heard a muffled chuckle and a quick clearing of a throat that obviously was her unsuccessful cover for the chuckle. He clenched his pony's reins for once more, thinking that she was laughing at him, and moved even further in the front to avoid her. Now she was laughing at him? Just thinking of this possibility made him want to pull his hair out of his skull. He still was unable to understand her hostile, exaggerated reaction and the insult she paid him during their unforgettable first encounter, believing that it was perfectly normal and reasonable for him to ask these questions or doubt the help her presence would offer to them. It didn't make any sense Gandalf calling especially for her to join them, since there were quite a few Rangers in all Middle Earth, who most importantly were _males_.

But of course, with his luck, the Ranger who now escorted them was _her_. A woman he thought so alarming and short-tempered that she could surpass Thorin who, from Kili's personal experience over the decades, could become the grumpiest person in the world if he wanted to.

Yet, she could pass for friendly, considering the lively conversation she just had with his brother. Fili naturally had taken a liking to her, thinking her as an interesting person to interact with, the shiny new toy. The thought only of his brother spending time with her had Kili appalled. He wasn't so sure about what the opinions of the rest of the company were of her, since she descended from the Elves. They appeared to behave nicely to her, but who knows what a dwarf has in his head? Besides his brother, only the hobbit seemed to genuinely like her. So in conclusion, and after adding his previous thoughts to the new ones, he was completely lost as to what his opinion was of her, though it dangerously tended toward dislikeness.

* * *

**Nad no ennas = Someone approaches**

**Dôl gîn lost = Your head is empty**


	5. Chapter 4

**Thank you for the reviews and please keep them coming! You make my day and I'd love to hear whether you like it or not. Famous quote of Jack Sparrow in this chapter!**

**HanVanHelsing: Wish granted, partially though. More Fili was added, but I intend to keep their flirting on friendly levels, more like teasing. Thank you for the review and I really hope you'll keep considering it good!**

**Title taken from '****Nothing else matters' by Metallica.**

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_So close, no matter how far, couldn't be much more from the heart_**  
**

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After many hours of riding, they found a small flat space near the edge of a cliff where they could camp. Thorin dismounted his pony and announced that they would stay here for the night. They left the ponies to rest in the near trees and began searching for branches to start a fire, as Oin and Gloin had ordered them.

Arya had walked away from the others and wandered in the woods alone for the first time in two days. A small part of her had missed her freedom. It was not like she was captured, but she somewhat belonged to a group now, even if she wasn't their kin. After collecting enough branches, she walked back to the camp, passing in a distance by a small group consisting of Fili, Kili, Bofur and, what seemed like a frightened, Bilbo.

"Dangerous folk, the Rangers. Wandering in the wild..." Kili mumbled.

"I've heard stories. They say she sneaks up behind her enemies and then cuts their heads, so quickly and silently, that even themselves don't feel it" Bofur jestingly piped up.

"Never leaves any survivors" Fili added with a dark look.

"No survivors?" Arya's voice emerged. "Then where do the stories come from, I wonder?" she said with a grin and couldn't resist chuckling at the sight of the, scared to the bone, dwarves and hobbit.

The hobbit let a small cry, feeling his heart leap up to his mouth, and then gasped in relief when he saw it was her. "What on earth was that? Do you aim to take our lives from the fright before our time?" he spluttered, still trying to catch his breath from the shock, but then thought that he might have sounded quite rude and went to open his mouth and apologize.

A faint smile had spread on her face and she laughed breathlessly, raising her hand to prevent him from doing so. "A Ranger ought to be light-foot and nimble, Bilbo. Otherwise he shouldn't deserve to be called Ranger. Nonetheless, I believe your information needs refreshing, gentlemen. As quickly and silently a head could be cut, the victim always feels it. And also, I would never have my enemies suffer a painless death."

"I am incredibly infatuated at your ardor to cause physical injury" Bofur remarked, closing his eyes in admiration.

She eyed him with a mirthful grin. "I will take that as a compliment, thank you."

The only one, who had stopped talking the moment she arrived, was Kili of course. And he continued not talking after then, as well. They returned all together to the camp and lit the fire to allow Bombur start cooking. When the food was ready, Bombur divided the stew and gave everyone a bowl. She was sitting next to Fili. Kili was on the other side of his brother, sulking and stirring his stew with unreasonable force.

"How can you be so quiet and light on your feet? You nearly scared us back there" Fili said within a mouthful of stew.

"Nearly? I _did_ scare you back there" the Ranger corrected. "With all due respect, but I could have shot you in the dark if I wanted to." Here, she elicited a light whining sound from the blonde dwarf. Completely impervious, she simply smiled at him and continued, "You must put your wits upon the hone, my dear. Or else you might have your dashing braided beard cut off."

"If you, lass, were the one to comfort him after, he would cut his beard off himself!" Oin pointed.

Winks and whistles came at their direction. Arya chuckled and both brothers' faces had turned red, only with a _slight_ difference. Fili's was red from blushing and Kili's from raging anger.

In an effort to strangle her giggles, she cleared her throat. "I'm sure, master Oin, that a prince would not have a mere Ranger like me, to comfort him in case of such an unfortunate event."

"She is right" Fili piped up. "No offence Arya, but I prefer girls with some hair on their chins" he added with a smirk, prompting her to press a hand on her chest, faking hurt.

Bombur shook his head in frustration. "What a pity it is."

Nori agreed with the chubby dwarf with a nod of his head, adding, "Indeed, your offspring would be very easy on the eye!"

Arya almost choked on her food and Fili choked because he couldn't breathe from laughing at her reaction. His brother's face was getting more heated than fire itself and he was ready to batter the bowl that now quivered in his hands in the ground.

"I could make an exception for you though. I'd love to have a daughter who looks just like you" the blonde dwarf told her, raising his eyebrows cunningly.

It was the first time since their meeting that Kili actually enjoyed her presence among them and he tried to fight the chuckle that threatened to leave his mouth. In times like this, he could understand why his brother tended to like her. The expression of utter dread and terror on her face was just priceless.

Thorin, however, settled on the other side of the fire, was not at all pleased with the conversation taking place. Dwalin, Balin and Gandalf, who sat on his sides, were rather amused and they laughed briefly at the dwarves' teasing towards the Ranger and the King's older nephew.

Arya noticed the irritated look on Thorin's face. "For the very health of your King, I think it would be wise to halt our, otherwise joyful, conversation" she said and everyone returned to their food, eating silently for most of the time.

When they all finished, they lied down to sleep, except from Gandalf who was smoking his pipe, Bilbo who could not sleep because of Bombur's loud snoring and the two younger brothers who were on watch. Arya, of course, knew she would be unable to sleep without the nightmare following her, and didn't even bother laying down. Sometimes, she caught herself internally wishing not to sleep ever again, to avoid seeing it.

She was sitting on a soft spot on the ground with her back against the large rock behind, listening to the sound of the fire, when she saw Bilbo walking to the pony he rode all day and giving her an apple. She smiled at the kindness of the small hobbit, when a screech disrupted the peace of the night and prompted her eyes to take a quick scan of the area around them, a vague feeling slowly starting to bloom inside her. Their camp was a few leagues away from Amon Sûl and that fact brought a vast amount of worry to her. Many rumors were heard the past months about the tower's ruins upon the hill and the creatures that inhabited there, and she wished they were simply rumors and nothing more.

Bilbo felt his fright heightening when he heard it and quickly strolled up to where the brothers sat. "What was that?" he asked wide-eyed.

"Orcs" Kili said grimly, causing his brother to look at him questioningly and Thorin to jump up from his slumber.

"Orcs?" Bilbo echoed and shuffled on his feet nervously from the fright that slowly engulfed him.

"Throat cutters, there'd be dozens of them out there" Fili piped up, catching his brother's mood for jokes. "The lone-lands are crawling with them."

"They strike in the wee small hours when everyone's asleep. Quick and quiet. No screams, just lots of blood" Kili said, making Thorin roll his eyes and glare at him.

The two brothers couldn't hold any longer and chuckled. Thorin, though, seemed incensed. Arya's face scrunched up in confusion, not actually being able to comprehend their attitude toward an orc ambush. She was sure that if that actually happened, they would share the hobbit's current fright to some degree.

"You think that's funny? You think a night raid by orcs is a joke?" Thorin scolded them.

Kili's look immediately turned to that of embarrassment and regret. "We didn't mean anything by it" he whispered humbly, lowering his head.

"No you didn't. You know nothing of the world" were Thorin's final words before he moved near a small rock near the edge, his back turned to the others.

It was Balin who defused the tension of the situation, by joining them near the fire. The old warrior's eyes went to Thorin and back to the two brothers, before he began to speak. "Don't mind him, laddie. Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs." He began recounting the story of how their people, after Smaug destroyed Erebor, tried to reclaim Moria. In that battle, Azog the Defiler beheaded King Thror, while his son Thrain either disappeared or got killed. Thorin faced the pale orc and cut his arm, using only an oaken branch as a shield. The point to-be-made of the story was that his people saw in him the King that could lead them to create a new life and later try to take back their lost home.

The Ranger was well familiar with that battle, for Elrond had taught her many stories and legends of this world when she was growing up in Rivendell. Thorin had lost his family just like she did, even by the same enemy. She could almost feel compassion for him now. _Almost_. When Balin finished his story and Thorin turned around and moved towards them, came Bilbo's question about the pale orc.

"He slunk back into the hole whence he came. That filth died of his wounds long ago" the King answered starkly.

"_That's impossible._" Azog had slayed her family ten years ago. "_He is very alive in contrast to your opinion, King under the Mountain."_ She saw the wizard and Balin exchange glances; glances holding knowledge that the pale orc still lived. If not Gandalf, Balin at least was one of the people Thorin trusted and he had not revealed his suspicions of the pale orc's unfortunate well-being. Perhaps for some reasons? She did not know, so she would not reveal anything unless she was told by Gandalf to do so, since the wizard was the only one aware of the common foe she and Thorin shared.

Arya walked away from them, again feeling someone's eyes on her back following her pace. She sat on a small rock near the edge and wrapped her arms around her folded legs, thinking nothing but her family. She could not fight the urge to start singing a song her mother used to sing to her when she couldn't sleep. It was her favorite, even though sad.

_Immen dúath caeda __  
__Sui tollech, gwannathach omen __  
__Boe naid bain gwannathar__  
__Boe cuil ban firitha__  
_

_With a sigh you turn away__  
__With a deepening heart__  
__No more words to say__  
__You will find that the world has changed forever__  
__And the trees are now turning from green to gold__  
__And the sun is now fading__  
__I wish I could hold you closer_

Whoever was still awake fell asleep in the sound of her voice coloring the air. Kili felt the pain in it when he heard her. Pain that was almost tangible and inadvertently made him mull over its cause.

When the song was over, she slowly walked back to the camp and laid on her bedroll, which Fili had placed between his and his brother's, ignoring the light chill that made her shiver. Sleep came to her after an hour of twitching and a few involuntary, silent tears rolling on her cheeks.

Kili was laid on his back with his arms folded under his head. He tried to think anything else except from the annoying girl laying next to him with her back turned and shivering from the cold, but eventually moved to place his cloak over her. Besides, he didn't need it as much as she did, he was only a little cold. Suddenly Arya, sensing the change of temperature, shifted sides and came closer. She placed her head on his shoulder, her long black hair shuffling before her and tickling his jaw, she entwined her legs with his own in a quite peculiar way and wrapped her arm around his chest.

The prince was unable to move, afraid that he might wake her up. As much as she annoyed him, he still was a gentleman. He was not going to disturb her sleep just to move her away. He looked at her and observed the tears drying on her pale skin, fighting the urge to wipe them with his thumb and just limiting to wonder why she had shed them. Her features were slightly drawn, as if she was in pain, but he saw her face relax after a while. Although she had stopped shivering, he pulled his cloak tighter around her to keep her warm.

Bofur, who had the last watch, was talking with Gloin, who was still half-awake and they caught the whole scene between the young dwarf and the woman.

"As much as the lad says he doesn't like her, he definitely cares enough for her to not get cold."

"There may be another reason that Fili considers her only a friend" Gloin pointed with a nod, as his brother had told him about the conversation that occurred some hours ago.

Both dwarves shared a chuckle in a very low voice. Gloin closed his eyes, fully asleep now, and Bofur observed the sleeping couple. He had a feeling about these two. Whether good or bad, he did not know.

Kili felt her shifting again, her head budging so close to his neck, he could feel her plump lips moving against his skin as she slowly breathed in and out. A strange feeling overwhelmed him as the girl was hugging him tightly, and he closed his eyes to try and rest, but slept only for a few hours. In the hours he managed to sleep though, her soft voice filled his dreams.

* * *

When Bofur's watch was over, it was almost dawn and he decided to wake up some of the others to prepare breakfast. One of those others was Fili, who nearly woke the rest of the camp with his laughter when he confronted the picture next to him.

Kili had embraced Arya's body in a tight hug and she had buried her face in his chest, her lean figure ostensibly crashed under him. Fili walked over to them, careful to wake only his brother and not her. He gave him a strong kick to his foot and startled him up from his, what from his face seemed to be, far too enjoyable sleep.

Kili opened his somnolent eyes with difficulty, only to face his brother and a large grin dancing across his face. "What the...? Why did you wake me?" he growled drowsily.

"You're sleeping with her again" Fili remarked, the grin on his face getting wider.

"Aye lad, we have to take our turn too!" someone teased and those who were awake snickered.

Kili looked down at the sleeping figure in his arms, mentally cursing his luck that he hadn't woken up before the others so they wouldn't see them, and rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Oh, shut up" he grunted and went to remove his grip, though carefully so as not to wake her.

"Please, it was not my intention to disrupt your comfort. You can return to your previous cuddling position."

"Hilarious" Kili mumbled and sent him a glare so severe, that the smile on his brother's face fell. "It is not my fault she's wobbling around like a puppy in her sleep and climbs on unsuspecting people."

The smile returned to the blonde dwarf's face and it could be considered the absolute definition of smugness. Surely Arya would not get herself wrapped up in his brother's cloak of her own volition, even if she was freezing to death. So the kind gesture to warmly swaddle her like a baby was Kili's thought. "You might want to take your cloak as well, brother. Or else she might acknowledge the unsuspecting person she supposedly climbed on to."

Kili quickly jumped on his feet, wavering as to take the cloak and let her get cold or just leave it over her and risk letting her know they slept like this. His embarrassment of having again slept next to the cheeky human naturally prevailed. So he slowly pulled his cloak and walked away with an angry look on his face, fumes practically coming out of his ears.

Fili was torn between laughing and laughing harder. He eventually decided against both and just glanced at his brother, who was stomping around the camp and waking the others, and then at Arya, who was still sleeping in front of him. With a small sigh, he leaned down and nudged her to wake up.

Once they were all awake and sated from breakfast, they mounted their horses and ponies. On the way, heavy rain started falling upon them, making all the dwarves soaked and fussy. Arya had put her hood on and rode Urúvion in silence, the voices of the others purposefully muffled in her ears. The rhythmic sound of the raindrops falling on the ground or plopping on the tree leaves was her entertainment now. She always liked the rain, it helped her sort out her thoughts and mind, and it was a redemptive feeling she got when walking under it. She was deep in her thoughts as usual, trying to figure out how she had finally managed to rest properly for a few hours, without nightmares interrupting her sleep, when Dori's voice echoed in the woods.

"Mr. Gandalf, can't you do something about this deluge?" he complained to the wizard.

"It is raining master dwarf; and it will continue to rain until the rain is done. If you wish to change the weather of the world, you should find yourself another wizard" Gandalf said.

She mentally chuckled at his words.

"Are there any other wizards?" the hobbit asked curiously.

"There are five of us. The greatest of our order is Saruman the White. Then there are other two blues, whom I have quite forgotten their names and the fifth would be Radagast the Brown" the wizard said.

Bilbo had a look of disbelief on his face. "Is he a great wizard or is he...more like you?"

The priceless, sarcastic look on the wizard's face in respond to Bilbo's question made Arya unable to hold back a chuckle. "I think he is a great wizard in his own way" she heard Gandalf saying, as she retreated to the rear of the line to laugh freely.

Her cloak was thoroughly soaked now and she was shivering again. Kili noticed that and quietly came to ride next to her. Without a word, he placed his less wet and far warmer cloak on her shoulders, letting her to wrap it around her. She turned to look who was so kind to give her his cloak, surprised to see him, given his behavior of the last days. She was ready to thank him for his deed, but he quickly rode away, moving to the front of the line. Slowly, the scent of his cloak, enhanced by the rain, filled her nostrils. It smelled like bow polisher, which brought a faint smile to her face.

Fili's eyes went wide with surprise, as he witnessed the whole transaction, and came to ride next to her. "See, I told you my brother wasn't bad. He was just angry, this is why he seemed so..." he trailed off, trying to find the right words.

"Invective, wayward and rude?" she finished his sentence. "Still, aside the incident of that night, I've been behaving better than him."

Fili raised his eyebrows and flashed her a roguish smile. "Better?"

"Alright, I was trying to be modest. Much better than him" she mumbled.

A breathless laugh evaded his lips, which he unsuccessfully tried to hide. "So, how's our Ranger feeling today?" he asked when his laugh piped down.

"I believe the word I'd use is satisfied. I got myself some sleep last night without any nightmares" she said amusingly and the blonde dwarf nearly burst into a nervous giggle at the thought that sleeping with his brother helped her. She was completely oblivious to that fact, not remembering it at all. "That was a first for me since... Well, since a long time ago."

Fili thought it better not to comment. They stayed silent for a few minutes, before he gathered the courage to speak. "Can I ask you something?" he said hesitantly and she nodded for him to keep talking. "What are these nightmares you see about?"

Kili heard his brother's question and involuntarily lowered his pony's pace. He was now in a distance where he could listen to their conversation clearly.

She took a deep breath and stayed silent. She would have to tell them some day anyway.

"If you don't want to answer, it is perfectly understandable" Fili reassured.

"There is only one nightmare; that, being my family killed. It is like I am reliving it every time. I see their faces again, hear their screams like they are right next to me and I am tied up, able to do nothing to save them and just waiting for those accursed orcs to start playing with me."

All the dwarves were listening to them intently, pitying the young woman for what she had been through. Thorin closed his eyes, briefly regretting the words he had spoken to her in Ered Luin about loss and pain, aware of what orcs did with captives; of what they would probably do to her. He was all too familiar with nightmares himself after the battle where he lost half of his family. They had a tendency to completely destroy one's sleep and mess up feelings and thoughts.

Yet her voice came cold and composed, unveiling no hint of emotion. "Do not feel the need to say sorry. Unfortunately, it is something that has happened and cannot be undone."

Fili was surprised at how unruffled she was while recounting this, but respected the subtle, indirect message for them to not take pity on her. Still, there was a part of her story that he had come to be confused about. "What do you mean play with you?"

Before she had time to explain, Balin spoke first. "Lad, take Azog for example. They didn't call him the Defiler for nothing" the old dwarf said with a nod to Fili.

The example could not be more ironic. She might not have mentioned the name of her family's killer, but it was unintentionally brought in light by a very unaware Balin. Nobody, except perhaps Gandalf, noticed when the sound of the name brought a shiver down her spine.

Kili understood what Balin meant and shuddered, disgusted even by the thought of orcs torturing her in such ways. _"She may be a small, very annoying, impudent human being, but she doesn't deserve this"_ he thought.

When Fili caught up as well, a look of horror spread in his face and turned back to Arya. "They didn't... you know..."

Now it was her turn to get lost in translation. "What?"

Bilbo was riding next to them and was very sad to hear about her past. He guessed what the blonde dwarf wavered to ask and finished his sentence as discreetly as he could. "You know... defile you, did they?"

While Kili was waiting for her to speak, his breath was caught in his lungs, not sure if he could bear hearing the answer. His heart would pump out of his chest if it continued to beat that way. Why though?

Arya was staring at both Fili and the hobbit with a look of pure shock and amusement on her face, ready to chuckle at Bilbo's choice of words in order to not insult her. "Of course they didn't defile me! I would not let them. If anyone tried to defile me, I would have defiled him first."

Kili felt his heart return to its normal beat. Some of the others laughed at the threatening words for her enemies, glad that she was light-spirited again.

"You would defile him first?" Fili asked in disbelief, narrowing his eyes.

A mischievous smirk formed on her lips, albeit dosed with an amount of warning, and she blinked too innocently to sound harmless. "Trust me, you don't want to know."

* * *

Many days had passed, without something significant happening to them. This, until they reached a clearing where a burned house was and Thorin ordered to camp there. Gandalf motioned him and the Ranger to follow behind him.

"A farmer and his family used to live here" the wizard remarked, browsing the ruins of the house.

Arya was scrutinizing the place as well. What it was that destroyed the small house must have been quite big apparently. What made her worry, though, was that the remnants were far too fresh for her liking. "We should better move on" she mumbled gingerly.

Gandalf turned his attention to the dwarf. "We could make for the Hidden Valley."

Thorin turned abruptly to face him, grunting, "I told you already, I will not go near that place."

"Why not? The elves could help us. We could get food, rest, advice" the wizard insisted and the Ranger nodded in agreement.

"I do not need their advice."

"We have a map that we cannot read. Lord Elrond could help us."

"Help? A dragon attacks Erebor. What help came from the elves? Orcs plunder Moria, desecrate our sacred halls. The elves looked on and did nothing" the dwarf hissed bitterly. "And you ask me to seek out the people who betrayed my grandfather, my father-"

Arya huffed. _"Oh for goodness sake! Will you ever leave your prejudice and hatred behind?"_

"You are neither of them" Gandalf interrupted him. "I did not give you that map and key for you to hold on to the past."

"I did not know that they were yours to keep" Thorin growled.

"It is a long lost cause" she told the wizard with a dismissive motion of her hand.

The dwarves were unsaddling their ponies when the wizard stormed away, walking furiously between them.

"Is everything alright? Gandalf, where are you going?" Bilbo asked.

"To seek the company of the only one around here who's got any sense besides Arya."

"And who's that?"

"Myself, Mr. Baggins!" Gandalf burst. "I've had enough of dwarves for one day."

Thorin watched the whole scene, purposefully choosing to ignore his departure. "Come on Bombur, we're hungry. Fili, Kili look after the ponies. Make sure you stay with them" he ordered.

"Is he coming back?" Bilbo asked, quite uneasy at the wizard's absence. Balin, who was standing next to him, shrugged his shoulders in complete unawareness.

"He will come. Don't worry" Arya reassured with a kind smile. At least, she hoped he would return. "_Ah Thorin, you pig-headed git. You will lose all your allies because of your pride_" she thought, letting a frustrating sigh, while preparing to lead Urúvion in the trees. The chocolate horse moved closer to her hand and she smirked. "Nú, mellon nin, you agree with me because I'm right, or because you want me to pet you?"

Urúvion whinnied and she chuckled lightly, eventually complying with his wish and petting him.

Kili was peeking at her, partly hidden behind his pony, and felt something warm inside him when he saw the affectionate way in which she was smoothly stroking her horse's mane and whispered to him in elvish. He couldn't help but marvel at how the words were uttered from her lips; almost enchanting. Despite all the hardships in her life, which could make other people cold as stone, she seemed to be kind-hearted and amiable. With everyone else. With him, it seemed like her quick wit was in permanent ignition, ready to spring up. A fade smirk had spread on his face and when he realized the thoughts he was having, he coerced his mind to drift away from her and mentally commanded his mouth to stop smiling.

* * *

**Immen dúath caeda = Shadow lies between us**

**Sui tollech, gwannathach omen = As you came, you shall leave from us**

**Boe naid bain gwannathar = All things must pass away**

**Boe cuil ban firitha = All life is doomed to fade**_  
_

**Nú, mellon nin = Now, my friend**


	6. Chapter 5

**May any Force you want be with you, you good people! I'm like Jack Nicholson in the bathroom door scene in The Shining (in a less creepy, more happy way), every time I see that there is a new review, follow, or favorite of the story. Thank you so, so much and please review, I want to know what you think of it!**

**Anne S: It is me that should thank you for your words. Things are added and hope you'll like them. Also, there was no intention to make Arya a 'weaker' character because of the romance and I really hope to achieve this. Now, not to spoil anything, but I assure you that they are still far from the beginning of a relationship. Let's just say that more of a bond might form between them. Again, thank you for the review!**

**Haven't found a verse to fit this chapter, so I will go with what I wanted from the beginning. The whole soundtrack from _Pirates of the Caribbean_, for reasons you'll realize while reading. Enjoy!  
**

* * *

Night fell upon them and when they were all done with their food, Bofur told Bilbo to take two bowls to Kili and Fili who watched the ponies.

"I'll help you" the Ranger told the hobbit, as she felt obliged to do something good for Kili. For no rational reason, a vague feeling had swallowed her that seemed to resemble regret. He might have been better than she originally thought him to be and perhaps deserved a second chance.

Bilbo shot her a sideways suspicious look. He might not be the burglar that Gandalf trumpeted around, but he was certainly able to carry two bowls of food. However, he then noticed her look; he couldn't decipher it or understand why, but the sight yielded him immediately. So he didn't question her further and went to hand her one of the bowls. After taking Kili's cloak off her shoulders and placing it where he had laid his stuff, Arya took the bowl and followed Bilbo into the trees. What she didn't see was the winks and chuckles the dwarves exchanged at her eagerness to take food to one of the brothers in particular.

When they were somewhat distant from the camp, they saw the figures of the brothers stand still, with their backs turned to them. She walked closer to Kili, wavering as to just nudge him or speak, eventually choosing the first.

"What's the matter?" Bilbo asked at the same time her hand was on the dwarf's shoulder, startling him.

Kili felt a small hand nudging his shoulder, thinking it was Bilbo's. "We're supposed to be looking after the ponies" he said, stunned when he turned around and saw Arya instead. He might be wrong, but thought that the ghost of a kind look was hovering over her face. He could tell that she seemed almost friendly now.

"Only we've encountered a slight problem. There are two of them missing" Fili added.

She shot the brothers a stern look. "What do you mean missing? How could you miss them?"

"Shouldn't we tell Thorin?" the hobbit said, concerned.

"No, let's not worry him. As our official burglar we thought you might want to look into it" Fili interrupted.

Arya's eyes caught something in a distance. "Hush! Look over there" she said, pointing towards a light coming from a place near them.

They hid behind a fallen tree trunk and observed the source of the light. Kili's arm pressed on Arya's shoulders, keeping her down and very close to him, which none of the two seemed to realize. They saw a big, fat shadow carry another two of their ponies over a fire.

"What is it?" Bilbo asked frightfully.

"Trolls" hissed Kili and Arya in unison.

"We have to do something!" Bilbo mouthed to them.

"Yes, you should" Kili said eagerly. "Mountain trolls are slow and stupid and you're so small, they will never see you. It is perfectly safe, we'll be right behind you."

All Arya's goodwill and light mood evaporated the second she heard that.

"If you run into trouble, hoot twice like a barn owl and once like a brown owl" Fili piped up, nodding in agreement to his brother.

"Lle lakwenien? You're going to let him face the trolls alone?" Arya whispered, anger starting to boil in her. "For the love of the Valar, don't be such cowards!"

"We are not cowards" Kili snapped in a low voice.

"Then do something" she snapped back and made to move towards the trolls, when his hand stopped her.

His eyes had gone wide from shock. "What do you think you're doing?"

She harshly removed her arm out of his grip, growling, "What _you_ should. Help him. Now do something useful and tell Thorin, quickly."

The brothers complied, thinking of the scolding they were about to receive, and hesitantly marched back to the camp.

The Ranger silently slid near the trolls and carefully watched them. They hadn't detected the hobbit yet when suddenly, after a small fuss, one of the trolls had him in his hand. She took the bow that hung on her back and shot an arrow to the troll's hand, making him squeak in pain, but failed to drop the hobbit down. She moved closer to aim again, but missed the other troll, which came from behind her. He pushed her, causing her to stumble over some branches and lose her balance. Her bow fell on the ground and broke with a cracking sound under the troll's foot, as she slumped on the ground with a loud thud and an even louder groan. Quickly standing up, she took grip of her sword, staring threateningly at the giant trolls, ready to attack. "Drop him now" she ordered with a growl.

"Who are you?" one of the trolls asked.

"Does it matter? You will be dead before you'll have a chance to enjoy my stimulating company."

The trolls shared a laugh and the two, who had their hands free, made a move to catch her. She succeeded avoiding them for a while, but when she was under one's feet, tangled between them, he kicked her, causing her to hit on a rock and opening a wound on her right temple.

The troll lifted her from the legs in the air. "Are there any more of your fellas hiding where you shouldn't?"

"No" both Bilbo and Arya yelled.

"They are lying. Hold their tows over the fire, make them squeal!"

Thankfully, a shuffling came behind the bushes and the brothers appeared, slicing one troll's legs, making it fall on its back.

"Drop them!" Kili shouted.

"You what?" the troll holding Arya asked.

"I said drop them!" he said in an even louder, warning voice.

The trolls sent Arya and the hobbit flying towards the brothers, Bilbo falling next to Fili and Arya landing on Kili, his arms instinctively wrapping around her waist to prevent her from hit on something.

He noticed the blood that ran down her cheek. "You're hurt. What happened?" he asked worriedly.

"It's nothing. I'm fine" she said, but hardly saw in front of her.

"But there's blood- "

"I said I'm fine" she dismissed, following the other dwarves who rushed out of the trees. As much as they sliced or fought them, the trolls barely felt it, making the battle quite uneven. One the trolls grabbed Bilbo, who was trying to free the ponies and held him in the air over them.

"Lay down your arms, or we'll rip his off" they said.

Kili moved to attack, prompting both Thorin and the Ranger to take a step forward to stop him, so he eventually gave up. They dropped their weapons which were gathered by one of the trolls. The other two tied them up and began preparing them to be cooked. Bombur, Gloin, Oin, Balin, Bilbo, Thorin, Fili, Kili and Arya were put into sacks and were left on the ground, waiting for the next skewer. The others had taken the first, now spinning over a great fire in their underwear.

Arya's wound on the temple was bleeding. Her sack was placed between those of the two brothers and she felt dizzy with all the voices and groans coming from the dwarves. She caught one of the trolls say something about _'turned to stone'_ but her mental situation was, unfortunately, insufficient to process it. Thankfully, the hobbit caught that part too.

"The secret to cooking dwarves is... to skin them first" the hobbit said, earning a string of colorful threats and protests from the dwarves.

"That's a load of rubbish!" one of the trolls said, "I've eaten plenty with their skins on."

"He's right. There's nothing wrong with a bit of raw dwarf" another troll said eagerly, grabbing poor Bombur and lifting him over his mouth. "Nice and crunchy."

The hobbit, in a last effort to play for time, yelled, "Oh, no, not that one! He... he's infected!"

"He what?" the troll asked with narrowed eyes.

"He's got warms in his... tubes. In fact they all have. They are infested with parasites. It's a terrible business. I really wouldn't risk it" he said, causing the troll to drop Bombur on the others who were stacked in the sacks and the dwarves' protests filling the air about their supposed parasites.

Arya knew that Bilbo was trying to delay the trolls, but no one else seemed to understand. She took a glimpse of a pointed grey hat running behind the bushes and, relieved, realized Gandalf had returned. But she was too disoriented to even speak.

"Parasites? Did he say parasites?" Oin complained.

"We don't have parasites!" Kili bellowed next to her. "You have parasites!"

Bilbo rolled his eyes in despair, Arya nudged Thorin's leg with her shoulder and he seemed to finally catch up. Thorin kicked Oin and she nudged Kili with her head, giving him an intense look.

"I've got parasites as big as my arm" the company's healer tried to play along after Thorin's kick.

Kili heard Oin's words and glanced around nervously, feeling a soft nudge on his shoulder. He noticed Arya's glare and immediately changed his opinion of the parasitic colonies in his body. "Mine are the biggest parasites, I've got huge parasites!" he yelled.

Eventually, they all figured out what the hobbit was trying to do and their voices came in agreement that they were riddled.

"What would you have us do then? Let 'em all go?" the troll said and Bilbo wavered to answer. "You think I don't know what you're up to? This little ferret is taking us for fools" the troll continued, addressing the other two.

"The dawn will take you all" Gandalf's voice boomed over a large rock.

"Who's that?" one of the trolls asked.

"No idea. Can we eat him too?" the other said.

The large rock cracked under Gandalf's staff, letting the sunlight in, and the trolls miraculously turned into stone. Everyone cheered in the wizard's fortunate appearance, as he was now settling to free the dwarves. Everyone except from Arya, who passed out.

Fili felt her head falling heavily on his feet. "Gandalf! We could use a little help over here!" he called.

The wizard ran over the unconscious Ranger, cut the sack she was in and the ropes around her hands, observing the wound on her head. "She has just fainted, she is fine."

All the dwarves were on their clothes now and were getting ready to move on. Thorin told Oin, the company's healer, to check the Ranger's wound, with a very worried Fili standing next to her. Oin cleaned the wound and was able to stop the bleeding. He left her there to rest with the blonde dwarf hovering over her like a hawk, until she slowly opened her eyes and smiled. Fili told her to stay still, but she got up anyway.

Gandalf and Thorin were having a conversation about how the trolls had come so far south and her ear caught something that worried her. "_Not since a darker power ruled these lands_" were Gandalf's words that brought a shiver down her spine. There was a dark aura around them. She could feel it since the beginning of their journey; as someone had been following them, watching their moves closely. She wished it was only a false alarm, but her instinct had never failed her.

Thorin correctly pointed that the trolls must have a cave for hiding during the day, so the company wandered around the woods to find it. Fili shot a wary look at Arya, who reassured him she was much better now, able to walk and not dizzy, just a little numb. He was not so easily convinced by her statement and stayed beside to keep an eye on her.

Kili also found himself walking exceptionally close to her, ready to catch her in case she stumbled. Arya noticed that and scowled. She was sure that he didn't do that out of concern or even gallantry, the memory of him sending Bilbo alone to the trolls still fresh. Perhaps his only intention was to mock her if she accidentally stumbled. Or even worse, he might be in the mood for a morning fight and was waiting for her to stumble and fall on him, so he could have something to accuse her for. "_You are definitely not going to have that pleasure, you devious fox_" she thought and grimaced to herself, thinking how he would react at her calling him so out loud.

The more they approached the trolls' cave, the more an incredible stench made them want to tear their noses apart. Thorin, Gandalf and some others entered it cautiously and left the others behind to rest for a while. Arya sat on a small rock, resting her head against the tree behind with closed eyelids, with Fili at her side. Kili was talking with Balin and watched them from afar.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Fili asked for the fifth time.

"If anyone asks me one more time if I'm alright, I will kick him in the shin" she grunted with her eyes still closed.

"Then I shall leave you to rest" the blonde dwarf said with a smile and walked away to check the cave.

Kili saw her alone and moved closer. "I saw your bow. More of its pieces on the ground actually" he mumbled. He was inwardly questioning himself about his motive to do this.

Though flabbergasted that he had come and talked to her, she made a dismissive motion with her hand at his words. "I'll live without it. I still have a sword and two daggers and of course your dear brother, who has offered to protect me."

He felt a pang in his stomach at the last words. He didn't know why, but felt angry at her again.

"Here, take my arrows. I don't need them for the time being and they should not be wasted" she offered.

Now it was his turn to be astonished by her sudden move. He tentatively took the arrows out of her quiver and put them in his, muttering an almost incomprehensible "Thank you." They sat there in awkward silence for a while, before he left to find his brother.

When those who had gone in the cave came out, three of them seemed to have acquired some shiny things. Bilbo seemed very lost with the sword Gandalf gave him.

The Ranger approached him, casting an examining look. "Do you know how to handle a sword?"

"I have no idea" the hobbit mumbled in despair.

"Great!" she exclaimed with a wide smile, prompting Bilbo to shoot her a curious look. "You will be my apprentice then."

"Really?"

"Of course. I will not leave you defenseless! You own a sword and you will learn how to use it."

"It is very kind of you, my Lady" he smiled and gave her a small bow.

They rode for a few hours before Thorin ordered to camp, even though the sun was still on the sky. The Ranger thought this a good chance to take Bilbo for practice. Some of the dwarves followed them to the small terrace to train as well, while Bombur and Bofur would prepare dinner.

* * *

_Her arms felt heavy and sore, but she would neither admit it, nor stop. A groan left her mouth when the tip of the sword pointed directly at her heart. Arathorn smiled kindly, as his niece pushed the tip of his nephew's sword from her torso. "You are both becoming more like your father day by day."_

_Aranethon smiled, proud for his uncle's words and seeing his sister frowning upon her defeat._

"_I would not grouch like father does, if my own daughter would want to become a Ranger" the young girl grumbled._

"_You'd better not let him hear that!" the young man warned with a snicker and t__he girl punched his shoulder, giving him a wide smirk. _"_Hey! That hurt!" he protested, rubbing the spot where she had hit him. "You know, for someone so small you have remarkable strength, __gwethil__." She was almost six inches shorter than him, but he could never deny the pleasure of teasing her._

_Arya's look went fierce and she rushed forward, lunging at her brother. Aranethon smiled widely, secretly waiting for her attack. He knew his sister well enough to be aware that she did not very nicely put up with offends for her figure. Every time he annoyed her so much, they ended up sparring. They were both very skilled and quite stubborn to admit they were tired, leading to them fighting for even hours sometimes. __As for the results, it was a tie. Half of the times he was the winner, while Arya was in the rest of them. It was her turn to win now, as he dropped his sword on the ground, raising his hands in defeat._

_"__You should stop for now" Arathorn advised._

_His nephew nodded and went near the fire to sit with the others. His niece, on the other hand, seemed reluctant to follow._

_"__Will you practice with me, my Lord?" she asked with an innocent smile._

_The Chieftain smiled back and in a blink of an eye, his sword was swinging towards her. He had to admit it, she was very swift at her moves. While others would barely have time to even think, her sword was already clashing with his and she was making her attack._

_This continued for a long while, before he stopped their fight with his voice. "Enough for now. You should do better to go and rest, before my brother starts growling at me for getting you exhausted."_

_She seemed disappointed and her voice was pleading, "I am not exhausted at all! Can I stay for another ten minutes, please? You can go, I will practice alone."_

_He contemplated her look before he spoke. "Be iest lîn. But for another ten minutes only."_

_The girl smiled briefly, before she began lunging at thin air, imagining there was an opponent in front of her. Arathorn sat around the fire, next to his nephew, and watched her from afar. She was trying to perform a strange move with the sword behind her back._

"_I'm glad that my brother and I trained both of you well" Arathorn noted._

"_So are we" Aranethon replied with a smile, still gazing over his sister's fight with her invisible opponent._

* * *

"Come on Bilbo, we're going through the basics once more. Don't forget to move your feet" she warned and attacked.

The hobbit managed to fend off the first five lungs, but missed the last one, as his sword slipped from his hand and the Ranger's blade touched his neck.

"Bilbo, focus. The enemy is not going to let you take a break during a battle."

"I know but can we please stop? I think I've had enough for one day" he complained, tired from the training. She nodded and he put his sword back to its sheath.

Dori, Gloin and Dwalin offered to fight with her after the hobbit and a tiny hint of smile was spread on her face when she beat all three of them in the end, earning only a wrenched hand. She secretly chuckled to herself when she recorded Gloin and Dwalin's grumbling after their defeat; Dori didn't seem to mind a lot, although he was scowling enough to prove otherwise.

"Would our fair Lady care to train with us too?" Fili's playful voice emerged from behind her back.

An ingenious smile was dancing across her face. "I would be honored, my Lord."

Fili was taken aback. "Since when do you call me Lord?"

"Since you are a prince and you keep calling me Lady, my Lord" she bantered.

Kili had frowned, sulking over them teasing each other. "Cut it off with your flirting. We are trying to train here" he grunted.

Arya's look hardened and the smile disappeared from her face. "We are training as well. A little bit of humor never harmed anyone." She started sparring with Fili, who proved to be better than she had thought him to be and also, her slightly wrenched hand did not help the situation at all. Some of the rest had gathered around to watch them too.

The younger prince's gaze was fixed on them. The Ranger fought really well, considering the fact that his brother was one of the best swordsmen and eventually, she beat him.

"You are a worthy adversary" Fili admitted, still panting as he kissed her hand, and she curtsied jestingly in response.

Kili pouted at the sight of the kissing gesture. "I wonder if she is as good with the bow too. We never had the chance to see her in action with hers before it was broken" he remarked, raising his eyebrows.

An impish feeling bubbled inside her. And it was that of competitiveness. "So you think you are better?"

"Oh, I'm sure" he challenged, offering her his bow. "Try to hit the middle of that tree over there."

Arya fired the arrow with some difficulty, her hand being sore enough to prevent her from stretching the string of the bow well. She grunted, annoyed by her failure. Under other circumstances, in a battle for example, she would have hit the target perfectly, even if her wrist was broken. But the motive to beat the company's archer seemed to be inadequate for now.

"I knew it" Kili exclaimed victoriously.

That prompted her wounded pride to emerge with a growl, "You know nothing." Damn that blasted pride of hers. She knew that she was acting like a child right now, but could not help it opposite to this person. He was just provoking her and like a gullible prey, she was falling into the trap.

"If you want me to teach you, you only have to ask" he said sweetly, pulling an incredibly innocent look.

Fili chuckled. He was sure that Arya was a capable archer and she had missed the target, probably because her hand was sore. If someone was not aware of the circumstances under which the two met and the words that were exchanged, he would probably misinterpret his brother's comment. Kili seemed almost eager to teach her and satisfied that she was now paying attention only to him.

"I am willing to afford some of my limited spare time to give you the proper instruction" Kili continued with a crooked smile, completely impervious by the warning signs sent from her eyes.

Her glare was that of ice and fire combined, possibly capable of cutting even through iron. "I've had the proper instruction since I was four."

Kili came closer behind her back, taking her arms under his lead. "You are tensed" he noted, trying to get her muscles to relax.

Arya shuddered from the proximity between them. "If I was to shoot an orc, I wouldn't be the most relaxed person in the world" she mumbled angrily.

"Take a deep breath" he whispered in her ear, while his hands were supposedly fixing her stance. "Now, fire" he commanded. "Oh, and try to have the arrow meet the middle of the trunk this time" he teased and shared a playful smug grin with his brother.

"Shut up or my foot is going to meet the middle of your arse" she snarled, causing Fili to burst into a loud, barking laughter and the other dwarves to snicker.

Even Kili smirked. Some girls back in Ered Luin would blush, start stuttering and shuffle on their feet awkwardly when he talked to them. There were also those who idolized Fili as the perfect dwarf prince of the line of Durin and scorned Kili for his lack of beard. Naturally, they only slagged him off behind his back, so as not to let their idol know about their low opinion of his brother, due to an old incident that had taken place. Fili had once happened to hear their vicious words for his little brother and had boldly threatened to have Thorin exile them from the Blue Mountains. However, Kili had tried to wave it off, saying that the last thing he cared about was the malicious gossip of some silly dwarf women, only because he knew that his brother would not hesitate to fulfill his threat. He had learned to cope with the comments about his less than common dwarven mien, by either ignoring the dwarf women who seemed to have nothing better to do in their lives than gossiping, or giving snarky replies to the dwarf men who sometimes were far worse gossipers than their female counterparts, and channel the anger they flared inside him to his training.

Now_ this_ was something new for Kili because, being known for his infamously sardonic sense of humor, not very often he met someone able to outwit him. Deep down -though really, really deep- he delighted in her snarky replies, for the simple reason that he acted the same when irritated or cornered. His pride and prejudice, however, would ensure he would never admit that very fact. Arya was proved to be a more than capable adversary in a verbal exchange of witticisms. It was odd and unprecedented for him, but interesting at the same time. At least, she had the guts to confront him face-to-face, fact that made a small bubble of respect for her to settle in his chest.

He had removed his hands, but the ghosts of his touch remained on her arms. He did not abandon his spot, though, still standing literally less than two inches behind her. Arya tried to oust the annoying feeling with no effect. A moment before she was ready to release the arrow, he breathed out and -purposely or not, she didn't know- he blew a small puff of air on the side of her neck. The motion made her shudder so intensely that her hand reflexively let the arrow without aiming. Again, it did not hit the target, but below it. "I can't wield a bow right now. My hand is messed up" she protested and huffed frustratingly. It was a lie that her hand was messed up, only a little strained, but she had absolutely no intention to give him the pleasure of victory.

"Keep telling yourself that" he mumbled, clearly aware of her thoughts.

She turned around with a stern, fierce glare, soreness and weariness vanished. The challenge was extended and the motive had suddenly become adequate. It was not so much what he said that chafed her, but the way he said it. Kili's look turned from amusement, to that of surprise and eventually fear, as she rapidly dropped his bow down and reached for her sword. She lunged at him, but his reflexes were quick enough to block her attack with his own sword and lung back.

"Should we stop them?" Ori asked, a bit concerned. He was one of those who had gathered before.

Fili, however, was fervently opposed to that. "No, no. Not unless they reach to a point where they are going to kill each other."

"I believe they already have reached that point" Dwalin noted, quite amused by the sight.

Fili simply stared at them, observing the playful way in which his brother was fighting. "He is not going to kill her. He's even going easy on her!" he reassured the others.

Kili slyly smirked to himself, hearing his brother's words. Fili was right, he was indeed going easy on her and she seemed to use all her strength to defend herself. She was going to get tired quickly. He jumped back when she lunged, nearly losing his balance. He realized she might also be going easy on him and attacked, but she blocked him. He charged at her again, but retrieved his sword when hers nearly scratched his torso. At some point, the Ranger grew irritated that she hadn't beaten him yet and started charging with greater force. They kept lunging, always keeping eye contact and being unable to disarm each other. He was stronger than her and it was difficult to fend off his attacks. But she, being more agile, defended herself equally good.

He dangled his sword close to her neck, nearly taking her arm off. Arya stared at her arm, where a cut was now making its appearance below her shoulder and then moved her gaze to him, who had just realized that he had injured her, judging by the surprised look on his face. Her lips let out a snarl, as she shook her head in a warning motion. "You are dead meat."

Kili barely had time to fend off her attack as she lunged at him. She was fighting to kill, or severely injure him in the best case. When her pace lowered for a mere second, he took a step closer and charged, waiting for her block. When it came, he grabbed her right wrist so hard that made her drop her sword away, groaning in pain.

"Am I, now?" he asked conceitedly with a smirk, pointing his sword to her chest.

The Ranger was a step away from transforming into pure fire and burning everything in her way from her frothing rage. She abruptly stepped on his foot, causing him to step back in surprise and release her hand from his grip. That second was more than enough time for her to pull her daggers out and continue. She spun around to avoid his attack. This disoriented him, prompting her to make the next one, repeatedly charging her daggers against his sword. She turned her back to him and ducked, blocking his lung with her daggers crosswise behind her back, fact that brought exclamations of admiration from their audience. Kili was as astonished as the rest were, though he hid it. He had never seen that move before.

Arya whirled around again and her daggers clashed against his sword with ferocious power, causing it to slip away from his hands. She lurched forward and brought him on his back, with her sitting on top. Her left foot kept his right hand down and her right knee pressed his other hand on the ground. She seemed like a predator, ready to devour her prey.

She leaned over, keeping the daggers around his neck. Her long, now wild from the fighting, hair hung like a protective drape around their faces, preventing the others to see them. She leaned closer, their faces merely two inches apart. "You are" she whispered, eyes sparkling in sweet revenge.

He felt her breath against his lips and her scent filled his nose. The woman was ready to kill him and his only thinking was how nice she smelled. _"I'm losing my mind"_ he thought and forced the annoying thoughts to bury in the back of his head. "Get off me" he gritted through his teeth, feeling the small bubble of respect that had formed before now popping into thin air.

With a victorious smirk, she stood up and walked away, heading to the stream near the camp to clean her newly acquired cut. He also stood up, gathered his weapons and stomped away, embarrassed and furious over the fact that he had just lived through a degrading defeat. Fili followed behind to calm him, or possibly prevent him from trying to kill her, aware of how peevish Kili got when defeated from someone else but him.

Kili dropped the bow, the quiver and the sword on the ground and sat heavily on his bedroll. He saw that his brother was about to talk. "Not a word" he warned and Fili's mouth automatically shut.

They stayed silent for a while, when Fili couldn't hold any more. "Oh come on, you know she was not going to kill you!"

"Are you blind or deliberately choosing to ignore what happened?" Kili seethed, clenching and unclenching his fists. "I hate her. I honestly and unconditionally hate her" he growled.

The blonde dwarf shook his head in frustration, mumbling sarcastically, "I would tell you who's now being the blind one between the two of us, dear brother, but I want to keep my beard attached to my face."

* * *

**Lle lakwenien? = You're joking?**

**Gwethil = Sister**

**Be iest lîn = As you wish **


	7. Chapter 6

**Thank you so much for the reviews, follows and favorites people!**

**kaia: I know Kili is not the tallest in the company, but just changed it to bring him to almost equal height with my character. She knows that revenge solves nothing, it is written in chapter 1, paragraph 5. I wouldn't say she acts immaturely, but more like spontaneously. There is a purpose she acts like this, mainly because she's still very young judging by the Dúnedain's lifespan and also, because Kili evokes feelings that she hasn't felt before. I don't believe that at this age she could be as wise and reserved as, for example, Aragorn was in Lord of the Rings, where he was 87 years old. Wisdom comes with age, people say. Anyway, thanks for the reviews, criticism is always welcome.**

**Title taken from 'Mad about you' by Hooverphonic.**

* * *

_Trouble is my middle name, but in the end I'm not too bad_**  
**

* * *

_"...unconditionally hate her" Kili growled._

Arya felt her heart clenching at the sound of his words. She heard the two brothers talking as she walked back to the camp and her mood turned sour. Bofur handed her a bowl of food and she sat silently near the fire.

Balin shot her a weird look. She seemed very absorbed. "Are you alright lass?"

_It had been a few months since she and Aranethon had joined them. __Their father was very proud of them. His elder son was a mighty warrior now, resembling mostly to him and his uncle, being more quiescent and collected. __Arya was something else entirely. Fierce and perky. She was the heart of the group, being the only female. The older ones loved her as a daughter and the younger ones considered her a sister. She was deliberately undergoing__ a notoriously harsh training every day, leading to a point that she could easily beat anyone of their group. _

_Their father would occasionally let them venture in some patrols, yet always together, so as to protect each other in case of danger. It was a night they were on patrol when it happened. Out of nowhere, a group of orcs appeared and it was that dreadful night that Arathorn was lost. Aranethon and Arya were silent, souls filled with sorrow for their loss and even greater hatred for orcs, from that they already harbored for them._

She didn't hear the dwarves. Her eyes were fixed on the shapes the fire created. The light of the flames licked her pale face and her features were drawn.

Bilbo's face had scrunched up in confusion, quite concerned that he saw her so grim. "My Lady?"

Voices brought her back to reality, as she slowly turned her attention to the few pairs of inquiring eyes. "Mmm?"

"Balin asked if you were alright" Bilbo continued kindly.

"Yes, yes I'm fine, thank you." She returned to her food not with great appetite, until she gave her bowl to Bofur and walked away from them.

"What happened to her?" Balin whispered.

"Yeah, why is she so distant? She seemed fine earlier" Dori asked after him.

Fili rolled his shoulders, worried. "I have no idea."

"Perhaps she was used to being alone and needs her own time" Ori pointed.

"Or she's bored with us and will luckily leave" Kili grunted, receiving surprised looks from everyone.

"Kili" his brother hissed and elbowed him in his ribs.

Even Thorin sent his younger nephew a scolding glare. "Enough. She may have her own reasons. Dwalin, you'll take the first watch. Kili, you have the next and Fili, you have the last one" he ordered.

The blonde dwarf walked away from the fire towards the rock where the Ranger was and sat next to her. They stayed silent, as he waited for her to say something, but she didn't, so he took the initiative to talk first. "Why do you sit here all alone?"

"Ori's explanation was not enough for you?"

He smiled, as he understood she had heard their conversation. "No, it was not enough."

"I am sorry to disappoint you, but this is what it was."

"I believe I know a small part of you, to be sure that something else caused it." He saw that she wasn't so willing to speak, so he did not insist and gave her time.

She didn't answer but a few minutes later. "Hate is a strong word, Fili."

He huffed, clearly flustered, placing his hand on her shoulder. "He lost his temper and said that."

"I attacked first, my temper is no better than his. He doubted my fighting skills _again_ and even managed to cut me", she pointed to the scar on her arm, "but this is not a reason for me to say that I hate him." She paused and let a small sigh. "Look, I know how it feels to hate someone. I hate some creatures in this world, but for serious reasons. I am not particularly inclined to beget feelings of hatred to people, just because they were defeated by me in sword fighting."

"I know my brother, as I know he doesn't hate you. He just doesn't like to lose."

"Fili, the night my family died and I survived, I did not win. I lost. Almost everything. So it is hard for me as well to lose since then, because I have a feeling that the next time something similar happens, it will be a complete defeat and I will lose everything" she said coldly.

He saw her staring at the sky again. "Arya, he didn't mean it."

"I don't care whether he did or not. It will be better just to ignore each other for the sake of our nerves."

Fili let out a small chuckle. "I'm sure that you two won't last to ignore each other for more than minutes."

"Well, I don't know about him, but I will certainly try. Now, can you please leave me alone?" she asked impatiently.

The dwarf nodded and made to move away.

"Tell everyone I'll keep watch tonight."

"The whole night?"

"Yes, the whole night." She saw he was about to say something and suspected what it was. "And no, you don't have to keep company to me. You need to rest." With that she turned her head, before he could protest.

Fili headed back to the fire, informed the others about her decision and they all went to sleep.

Only Kili had stayed awake, with his eyes fixed on her cloaked figure. He was still incensed about their sparring earlier and his wounded pride wouldn't let him talk to her. His curiosity, on the other hand, was urging him to go and sit next to her, and ask why she took all the watches and didn't get herself some rest. He saw her stare at the night sky with a blank look, but it was not just that. He detected something more in her mood. She seemed wistful, sad. _"Since when do you care so much about what she's thinking?"_ he reprimanded himself mentally. Her presence emerged strange thoughts and feelings, which he hadn't even considered thinking or feeling. He shook his head to dismiss his mind from mulling over her and slowly drifted off.

Sleep would not come to her and the decision to let everyone rest was right. She was walking around the camp, taking occasional glimpses of the area around them or of each sleeping person, but paused when she reached in front of Kili's feet. "_Bloody dwarf_" she cursed mentally at the sleeping mound. She moved farther away and rested with her back against a tree, as a war of thoughts erupted in her mind, mingling with memories of the past.

_It was a good long week before she managed to regain consciousness, after the day she had arrived in Imladris, all worn and exhausted. As soon as her eyes opened, she faced Lord Elrond, who was patiently waiting to talk to her._

"_He is now the Chieftain. We must leave at once to inform the others" she said calmly._

_Elrond was surprised at how restrained she was, considering that practically her entire family, apart from one, was extinguished. "The others are aware. And you will stay for a few more weeks to recover" he declared with a stern look, but it was mainly concern written all over his face._

"_But-"_

"_It is your Chieftain's order and my recommendation."_

_She stayed silent until the Elf Lord exited the room and she curled up in a ball on her bed, feeling an empty space inside her. The Valar only knew what nightmares came to her. The great halls echoed from her shrieks every night. Many times her cousin came to her room to calm her and always found her convulsing during her sleep. She woke sweaty and gasping, her nails having created small, bleeding scars from where she had dug them in her skin._

_Weeks later, the young Ranger along with her new Chieftain, left Rivendell. They knew that the enemy desired to vanquish the heir of Elendil. However, they were not aware of her existence, that the same blood flowed in her veins. Still, she was unable to do anything about it. He was the only one who could restore the order in this unfair world, not her. She could only help him. Thus, she vowed to give her life for the last living male heir, to continue their line. He was the one that had to live, at any cost and sacrifice. _

She wondered where her cousin was now and if he was safe. She usually followed him, always ready to protect him if needed, after the oath she had made years ago. The Rangers had heard of small orc groups' ventures near the Hills of Evendim and her cousin sent her there with two others to check the area. The three Rangers had separated and patrolled around these lands for weeks, until the day came that she saved the dwarf King and Gandalf recruited her to this quest.

* * *

Morning came and one by one, the dwarves were woken by the Ranger. They were preparing to leave and made a small fuss.

Arya was ready and silently sat on a small rock, waiting for them. Her eyes were closed, as if trying to concentrate to hear something; and she did. She heard the rabbits. They were expecting a visitor any moment now. There was a flurry sound between the trees, startling everyone, but her.

"Arm yourselves" Gandalf ordered and everyone grabbed their weapons.

"Thieves! Fire! Murder!" the Brown wizard's voice bellowed.

"Radagast the Brown" Gandalf sighed, apparently relieved. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you, Gandalf. Something's terribly wrong" Radagast panted quickly, earning an inquiring look from the other wizard. "Just give me a minute. Oh I had a thought, now I've lost it. It's right there on the tip of my tongue. Oh, it's not a thought at all, it's a silly old stick insect" he said, while a small insect sprang out of his mouth.

"That's it. I am going to be sick" Arya mumbled under her breath.

Fili heard her comment and unsuccessfully tried not to laugh out loud. The brown wizard averted his gaze from Gandalf and noticed the face of the Ranger amongst the others.

"My dear Arya, I didn't see you there. It's been such a long time since I last saw you. How are you?" Radagast asked her.

Her head reflexively flinched upwards at the mention of her name and she tried to smile at him. It wasn't very successful. "Quite well, thank you" she said, surprised that he remembered her, and the two wizards immediately walked away to discuss something that seemed serious enough. She was able to catch some words and they were no good at all.

"_Spiders, Gandalf. I followed their trail. They came from... Dol Guldur" Radagast said cautiously._

"_Dol Guldur? But the old fortress is abandoned."_

"_No Gandalf. It is not."_

"Dol Guldur?" she whispered to herself, fear having turned her face pale.

"_A Necromancer has come" Radagast said with a gasp._

Arya clenched her fists and took a grip of her sword, as her ear caught something else in a distance. If she wasn't so focused on the two wizards' discussion, she would have heard it sooner. It was not long after, that a howling pierced everyone's ears.

"Was that a wolf? Are there wolves out there?" Bilbo asked frightfully.

"Wolves? No, that is not a wolf" Bofur muttered, bringing his axe close to his chest.

The howling came from behind their heads and a large warg jumped towards them. Thorin rammed his axe into the warg's neck and killed it. Then another warg appeared, this time behind the place where Thorin and the Ranger were standing. Kili had frozen at the proximity between her and the warg, as its claws were threateningly close to rip her face off. She could have been killed, if he wasn't quick enough to shoot an arrow into the creature's head.

However, Arya was simply unshaken by the fact that a warg had jumped over her head, trying to kill them. Its nails managed to scratch her temple and open her wound again, but nothing more alarming than that. One warg was not nearly enough to get her killed. So, as apathetic she was when first saw it, also was when she spiked her sword in the beast's neck and gave the final blow. She initially thought this was what followed them, but no. She had a feeling it was more than that, something more powerful and darker. But it didn't follow only them; it was spreading all over Middle Earth, quietly and slowly, so as not to be suspected.

"Warg scouts. Which means an orc pack is not far behind" Thorin yelled.

"Orc pack?" poor Bilbo gasped.

The wizard turned his head around nervously. "Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?"

"No one" Thorin replied. "What in Durin's name is going on?"

"You are being hunted" Gandalf said furiously.

"We have to get out of here!"

Bifur and Ori sprouted up behind the trees, the later panicked to the bone. "We can't! We have no ponies, they bolted" Ori squeaked.

Arya knew that Urúvion was heading to a safe place. The Valley was near and she was sure Gandalf's plan involved leading them there.

"I'll draw them off" Radagast offered.

"These are Gundabad wargs. They will outrun you" Gandalf warned him impatiently.

"These are Rhosgobel rabbits" said the Brown wizard with a mischievous smile. "I'd like to see them try."

* * *

The dwarves ran uncommonly fast and the Ranger was impressed. There was open space in front of them. No caves to hide. They ran as a pack, only moving when the wargs where in a fair distance.

"Stay together" Gandalf yelled.

"Move!" Thorin ordered.

She ran behind the brothers, who often turned their heads to check on her. Her head felt slightly numb from the reopening of her wound, resulting in her running slower than normal. Fili took a glimpse of her, observing her half-closed eyes and took a grip of her arm to bring her to a quicker pace. It took a great effort for them to remain hidden but unfortunately, luck didn't stay at their side. In an abrupt turn, Radagast brought the wargs closer to them, so one of them caught their scent. They saw the warg leaving the group and hid under a large rock, trying not to be seen. The warg jumped on the rock above them, sniffing heavily.

Arya took a hard grip of her sword, preparing to slice the orc that would probably get in their way. With no reasonable explanation in his mind as to why he did it, Kili grabbed her arms and pushed her behind him, before aiming an arrow at the warg after Thorin's nod to shoot it. The large creature crashed in front of them along with its rider, causing a terrible noise that undoubtedly drew the attention of the orc pack, until Dwalin and Bifur's axes were in his head.

"Run! This way, quickly" Gandalf shouted, as soon as the wargs started hunting them.

Kili grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him, but at some point he felt it slipping away. He turned around and saw her urge Ori and Bilbo to run faster. A new round of more intense running began, as the howling of the wargs came closer and closer. There was nothing but bare land with a few small trees, bushes and rocks, nothing suitable for hiding. Gandalf suddenly disappeared behind a rock, while the others were running closer together. Fili and Kili were in a distance from the rest, as was Arya too.

"There's more coming" Kili shouted from his spot in panic.

"Kili, shoot them!"

"We're surrounded!" Fili yelled, next to his brother who shot an arrow to an orc right then.

"Where's Gandalf?"

"He's abandoned us" Dwalin shouted.

"Hold your ground" Thorin roared, as the dwarves gathered closer to the rock.

The Ranger heard that. There was no way Gandalf would have let them there, he was surely trying to find a way to help them. When she noticed a warg riding dangerously close, coming right at her, she took one of the knives of a sheath on her hips and threw it with great force into the orc's eye. The knife hit its target perfectly, bringing the orc on the ground and she was ready to throw another one at the warg, but it suddenly fell dead by an arrow. Surprised, she turned to see where did that come from and found Kili staring at her and quickly turning his gaze to his next target.

* * *

Kili watched his companions gather around the rock, but didn't found the face of the girl among them. "_Where has she gone now?"_ he thought indignantly. He turned his head and saw her stand a few yards away from him, throwing a knife into an orc's eye. Fright overwhelmed him when the warg, that the orc she just killed rode, was running right at her. In seconds he fired an arrow to the warg, saving her just in time, prompting her to turn around and look at him.

Gandalf then appeared through the rock, yelling, "This way you fools. Come on, move!"

Everyone ran to the small secret cave beneath the rock, with Thorin staying over the entrance and waiting for the others to get in first. The orcs started to wonder how the dwarves suddenly disappeared.

Arya was now throwing a knife further away, hitting another orc in the head when she made to run to the entrance and heard Thorin's urging voice. "Kili, run!"

Turning her head, she saw Kili run towards the rock with a warg in tow and needed not a second more to change her pace and run at his direction. If the warg touched even a hair from his head, it would suffer a very excruciating death. Initially, she thought she did this because she had reassured Thorin that they would need her protection. Then, because he was a member of the company she was now part of. After that, because she had grown close to Fili and didn't want to see him hurt if something happened to his brother. But no, it wasn't just that. She didn't know what else made her do it and now was definitely not the time to search for answers.

Her eyes were fiery and her daggers ready to spill death. Her grip was so hard, that the knuckles had turned white. She jumped in the air and, with a flip, landed on the warg's back, her face inches away from the face of the very surprised orc that rode it. She shot him the ruthless look of revenge and a second later, his head rolled in the ground.

Kili was running as fast as he could towards the rock, aware that a warg was behind him, but not aware that Arya had attacked it to save him. He thought she had gone down the hole before him, when he saw his uncle's strayed look and turned his head to see the beheaded body of an orc on the warg and Arya laid on her back, trying to stab the warg with the two daggers. He made to step back, shoot an arrow to it, draw her down and get under the rock, but his uncle obviously disagreed.

Thorin saw the hesitance in his nephew's look, grabbed his arm and shoved him into the cave. The Ranger had saved his nephew and he was grateful for that, but he wouldn't now let him die in order to save her. If she wanted to die, it was her choice. He had pointed this at both her and Gandalf. He saw her stab the warg in the temples, making it drop her off its back and fall hardly on the ground. He thought it ended there and slid into the cave himself, waiting for her to follow behind him any moment now.

She thought it ended there too, but during the process of her getting up, the dying warg clutched her in his mouth, tearing her flesh apart with its teeth.

When Thorin stepped his foot on the ground, everybody looked at him, expecting the Ranger would come along with him. Fili, very worried now, was ready to ask where she was, when they heard her scream and a warg's snarl. Kili flinched backwards and momentarily went insane considering what might have happened. Her screaming pierced his ears and made him ready to climb back to the entrance to go and get her, but his uncle's hands stopped him again from endangering himself.

Stuck between the warg's teeth with only one hand free, Arya grabbed a knife that was hidden in her boot and stabbed it hard between its eyes. The warg let a final growl and flipped back dead, sending her flying towards the entrance. She rolled into the hole in a mess of bloody clothes and tangled limbs, and landed on Kili, making him take a tumble and fall on his back with her on top. Her temple crashed against his jaw and she groaned loudly from the pain. Her mind was urging her body to stand up and get away from the dwarf under her, but she was something less than able to move because of the still counting bleeding scars of the warg's teeth.

Everyone was relieved to see she was alive as they gathered around her, even Thorin. Gandalf, Bilbo and Fili, who had ran next to them, helped her off Kili and sat her down to examine her wounds. Gandalf, along with Oin, tried to stop the bleeding, which was ineffective because the cuts were many and deep, so they just settled to wrap them tightly.

Kili nervously got up and dusted the dirt from his clothes, his rage hanging from a thread. He was actually _livid_. "You idiot! You barmy idiot" he yelled and menacingly stomped over to her. "You are a moving trouble!"

"I just saved your life" she yelled back at him, wondering how ungrateful he could actually get to be.

"You could have been killed!"

"Less trouble for you then" she grunted sullenly, glowering at him with a sarcastic scowl.

"Are you completely mental?" He let a husky, crazed laughter and continued dishing out, "Why do I even bother to ask... of course you are! I was sure you were reckless and irresponsible, but not to that extent! You bloody- " He obviously had other adjectives to add, but was interrupted by a dead orc falling in the hole, followed by the sounds of horns.

Thorin examined the arrow that was stuck in the orc's neck. "Elves" he growled in disgust, shooting a look to Gandalf who purposefully avoided it.

Dwalin's voice came from the back of the hole, "I can't see where this path leads. Do we follow it or not?"

"Follow it of course!" Bofur exclaimed and they all started walking behind Dwalin.

"I think that would be wise" Gandalf's low voice came in response. He then looked at the now seated Ranger. "Patience, my dear" he whispered to her.

Arya knew very well where the path led. She half-smiled and gave him a nod of awareness.

"Daft woman" Kili hissed in a breath, looking at her angrily.

She was gradually growing both bored and irritated towards him. "Done with your little speech? A simple 'thank you' would suffice, you know" she said wryly.

Kili was about to answer when Gandalf advised them to move. He and Bilbo moved forward, leaving the brothers and Arya back. Surely she wasn't able to walk, but she was not going to ask for help from the man she saved and had just lashed out at her.

"Put your hands around my neck" Fili commanded.

"I am perfectly able to walk, thank you" she said, emphasizing the last two words and intentionally glaring at his brother.

She made a move to stand up, only to fall back and groan in pain. Kili rolled his eyes impatiently, then leaned down and lifted her in his arms.

"Put me down" she yelled, trying to get free from his grip.

"We do not intend to stay in this hole until you decide to be reasonable and let someone help you" he growled, not bothered in the slightest by her wobbling in his wide arms.

"I did not ask for help" she grunted.

"You need it. Now don't move."

Arya clenched her fist and punched his arm with extraordinary strength, considering the injuries she had undergone.

His eyes took a glimpse of his arm and then her and, as calmly as he could manage, asked, "Did you hear me asking you to punch me?"

"I always hear 'punch me' when you are speaking, but it's usually subtext" she mumbled, along with a very eloquent string of expletives in elvish.

Under other circumstances, Kili would smile, or even laugh, at her quip. Though finding something _she_ had said amusing and laughing at it, would probably be too much for his pride to bear. So he would simply settle for an unseen smile. But this time she had brought him literally to the verge of insanity with her antics. "If you are going to call me every name under the sun, do it in a language we both understand, so we will be able to have a decent fight" he said seriously.

She sneered at him, casting him an amused, yet still very angry, look. "Pedin i phith in aníron, a nin ú-cheniathog" she said, causing him to roll his eyes and glare at her.

Fili had a hard time not to laugh at the scene of the two of them arguing. Occasionally small giggles left his mouth, only to be met by their matching angry gazes, which caused him to laugh even harder. She eventually stopped moving around to try and free herself; she knew she didn't have a chance against Kili to let her walk, but still, her body was tensed again his.

Reaching the end of the path, they found themselves standing in the end of a small cascade that gazed over the valley. Thorin seemed absolutely ready and tempted to kill someone, when he faced the landscape in front of him.

"The Valley of Imladris. Here lies the last Homely House, east of the sea" Gandalf announced. "In common tongue, it's known by another name-"

"Rivendell" the small hobbit finished the sentence, fascinated from the breathtaking view.

"This was your plan all along. To seek refuge with our enemy" Thorin accused with a dark look.

"You have no enemies here, Thorin Oakenshield. The only ill will to be found in this valley is that what you bring yourself."

"You think the elves will give our quest their blessing?" the dwarf grunted, apparently angry now. "They will try to stop us."

"Of course they will. But we have questions that need to be answered and also, an injured companion who needs immediate healing."

Thorin scowled at that and shot a sulky look at the figure of the Ranger, who was now held firmly in his younger nephew's arms.

"If we are to be successful, this will need to be handled with tact and respect" Gandalf quipped with a distinctive nod. "And no small degree of charm. So this is why you will leave the talking to me."

The dwarf exhaled resignedly and with hesitant steps followed the wizard, as the company made their way to the elven city.

Apart from the wizard, only Bilbo and the Ranger seemed contented to be in Rivendell. Naturally, Arya was happy to see Lord Elrond again, as she had not seen him in months. She felt the weariness from the tension of the last two days overwhelming her, as they headed to the city.

Much to his dismay, Kili found himself admiring the general splendor of the Hidden Valley, but was startled when with great surprise, he became aware of the new occupant crawling up to his shoulder; Arya's hand. He looked down and watched her slowly move her gaze around the place with an almost invisible smile gracing her lips, completely oblivious that her hand was resting on him. He made great efforts not to jar her a lot when the path was uneven, because her wounds were still fresh and bleeding. As he walked behind the others, he felt her body relaxing completely and her head slumping back on his other shoulder. She was falling asleep or falling unconscious. Which of the two he did not know, but either way, it made him walk more nervously and worry even further. Her slightly parted lips were touching the stubble under his jaw line, prompting that strange, vague feeling to overwhelm him again and send shiver down his spine.

When they reached the house of Lord Elrond, they confronted Lindir, who informed them that he was gone. Soon afterwards though, he appeared with fellow soldiers, as they returned from the hidden passage where they killed those orcs. Gandalf greeted Elrond, who cordially welcomed him and the dwarves in Rivendell, to eat and rest.

Elrond also noticed the dark cloaked, female figure laying in one of the dwarves' arms. He was very happy to see Arya after all these months. But her clothes were soaked in blood, probably her own, fact that brought great worry to him. He immediately ordered Lindir to take her to the healing house. As Lindir walked closer, Kili shot him a threatening look, took a few steps back and held her tighter.

Elrond observed this and addressed the young dwarf with a smile. "There is no reason to fret, master dwarf. Arya is perfectly safe in my hands and will be returned to you as good as new."

Fili, even if he had been taught from a young age to not trust Elves, put his hand on his brother's shoulder, meaning to let the elf take her. Kili, like she was made of glass and would break with even the smallest of movements, hesitantly let Lindir take her. He warningly glared at the elf, who rolled his eyes and ignored him, and his gaze followed him carrying her until he disappeared from his sight. Afterwards, they all went inside the house to rest.

* * *

**Pedin i phith in aníron, a nin ú-cheniathog = I can say what I wish, and you won't understand me.**


	8. Chapter 7

**HVH: Thank you so much for your reviews, you really make my day!**

**creepyLOTRfangirl55: I don't believe I had a quote from the Pirates in the previous chapter. If you found something from the Pirates, it may have come out while I was writing and didn't realize it. So happy you liked it!**

**Cyphercat: I wish my humble mind had come up with that line, but I borrowed it from Sherlock (the BBC series). Thank you for your review! **

**Narsilia Stark: Thanks for the review! Fili's a charmer, indeed!**

**Zephyr: Thank you for pointing that, it is corrected now. Glad you liked it!**

**Now, you good people, this one came out with quite an amount of jealousy in it. Hope you enjoy this!**

**Title taken ****from 'I've got dreams to remember' by Otis Redding.**

* * *

_I saw you there last night, another man's arms holding you tight, nobody knows what I feel inside, all I know, I walked away and cried_**  
**

* * *

Lindir took her to the healing houses, surprised to see her in such a bad condition. He knew the young Ranger for years. She usually returned from a battle with no more than a few scratches. Besides, they considered her the best Ranger after her Chieftain. Now her wounds of where the warg bit her were bleeding ceaselessly, she was pale from the blood loss and her whole body felt sore, as purplish bruises began to form on her skin. Elrond was standing above her, also surprised at her condition. Her enemies were this injured if not dead, when the battle was over, not her. He glanced to his side, his hands and forearms covered in her bright crimson blood, and beckoned a guard to take a message to someone.

Not much later, a man burst through the doors of the healing room with a horrified look on his face. He watched the other healers bustling about and around the bed, handing Lord Elrond supplies, emptying buckets filled with -almost exclusively- blood and filling them with fresh boiling water. He cast a wary glance at Lord Elrond, who discreetly nodded back, motioning for him to stay there, and did as was asked. He could see her pale face, but the rest of her was hidden by the healers' figures, as they worked quickly to clean the blood, both the dried and what still was gushing out from her wounds.

An assistant stood by the bed beside the healers and he would occasionally drop something into a bowl. Something white that made a small thud when it hit the bottom. His eyes closed for a second and he huffed, partly in worry and partly in anger, as he realized that these objects were remainder of what seemed to be warg teeth. The distinct, metallic smell of blood had filled the room and made him wonder how much she was yet willing to spill. She might not care for herself but, thankfully, _he_ cared enough for the two of them.

The sound of the teeth hitting the bottom of the bowl ceased and he saw a hand holding a needle and thread, ready to safely conceal her punctured skin. After some minutes that seemed like hours, Elrond stood up and walked to the corner of the room, to wash his hands out of the blood. Some of the healers gathered around her and wrapped some bandages around the wounds, while the rest headed out of the room, carrying sheets and towels that had turned red from the blood in contrast to their original white state.

Lord Elrond approached the gloomy-faced figure that stood in the corner. "She will be fine, but probably will need a week to recover completely and her body to replace the blood she lost."

"You know her for the past 28 years. Do you honestly think she will stay quiescent even until tomorrow?" the man pondered quietly and Elrond let something that could pass for a chuckle. "Is there a particular reason she had to sustain this?"

"I am not aware of her current plans. What I can only tell you is that she travels along with a group of dwarves and a hobbit" Elrond said, earning a questioning look from him, "and Gandalf."

The man's face and expression softened. It had been a long time since he had seen the wizard and the last time he did, Gandalf had asked from him and Arya to help with a _small_ problem that dwelled in the western lands of Rohan, which had ended up in a subsequently _small_ battle. "Weirdly, this is an explanation far more adequate than it sounds" he said, as the ghost of a smile tugged his lips.

"Indeed" Elrond agreed with a similarly knowing look. "In the meantime, you should rest and eat while she heals, I will stay with her."

The man nodded and walked to where she was to kiss her forehead, before he left the room. A few hours later around afternoon, she opened her eyes and found Elrond staring at her with care.

"I iell nín" he said, giving her a warm smile.

She tried to move into a sitting position, but the fading pain made her grimace and stay still. "It is my pleasure to see you again, adar."

"Do I want to know?" Elrond inquired, pointing to her wounds.

She pulled an innocent look, similar to that she used as a wee child to get away from awkward situations which would decidedly lead up to a scolding. "I might have met with a warg's teeth by accident" she said and flashed him a smile.

"Of course" Elrond smiled back with a leery look. "Your wounds are cleaned and healed. But you need to rest" he ordered.

"I rested more than enough under your care. Did Urúvion come yet?"

"He came here just after your arrival."

"Good. I believe it would be wiser for him not to follow me anymore. He will be safer here."

Elrond nodded. "Be iest lîn_. _Dinner will be served soon. We have prepared your old room for you and I believe there is someone here you would very much desire to see" he said, helped her up and called a guard to take her to her assistants.

* * *

Fili was lying quietly on his bedroll, trying to sleep, as almost everyone in the room had.

Only his brother paced the room up and down nervously, mulling over the girl. He hated her and was sure that the feeling was reciprocal and he still couldn't figure out why she had even bothered to save him. Another of his thoughts concerned her familiarity with the Elves, a fact he did not at all found auspicious. All these were buzzing about his head like a bunch of bubbly bees and he could not hold them in his mind for more. "How did the Elf Lord know her name?" he pondered loudly with a lingering look.

"If you have some patience until she heals, you can ask her in person" Fili mumbled, almost in the verge of drifting off. "What you did before was very nice of you. She seemed much more comfortable in your arms than she would have been in mine." He thought he saw the hint of a smirk on his brother's face, but was too drowsy to be sure. "You still owe her an apology and thanks, though."

"For what?" Kili snapped.

"Thank her for saving your life by endangering hers and apologize for all the ornamental adjectives you tarted her up with in that hole" Fili said calmly, ignoring his brother's sudden burst.

"I owe her nothing! All I said was true. She is stupid to jump on a warg and almost get herself, if not killed, badly injured to save me."

"It's only right and proper that you do it."

"Will you two stop squabbling over two sassy eyes so we can sleep?" The angry voice of a sleepy Dwalin echoed in the room and made the two brothers blush and shush.

Fili's eyes were slowly closing and soon fell asleep. His brother on the other hand, could not find any rest, as the only thought occupying his head was if she was going to be fine as the Elf Lord had promised. He fell asleep with difficulty and all his dreams were of the stupid girl that saved him.

* * *

Two elf maidens were sitting beside, ordered by Elrond to help her. The Ranger knew Limwen and Gwirithiel from the time she lived there and was glad she had some female company. She wished Arwen was there too, but Elrond's daughter was in Lórien, visiting her mother's kin.

Arya was now comfortably sitting in the tub, till only her mouth and up was not sunk in the water, and enjoyed the very relaxing bath the two elves had prepared for her. The tub was in fact a natural hot spring, placed in the outer layers of the mountain, and its mineral water had evident results in the healing process. Her injuries already felt numb and she was hardly restraining herself from dipping entirely under the warm water and gratefully take the alleviation it offered.

"Strange company those dwarves, don't you reckon?" Gwirithiel asked, distracting her from her thoughts.

"Indeed, they are. They denied the rooms Lord Elrond offered them and occupied a large chamber all together" said Limwen.

"Oh yes, I saw them. My Lady, how can you put up with them? They are snoring so loudly!" Gwirithiel giggled lightly, causing the other elf to laugh as well.

"I don't usually sleep Gwirithiel, so I cannot answer sincerely. But I suppose you can get used to it."

Limwen gave the other two women a mischievous look, followed by a wide grin. "I could definitely get used to it, especially if they look like this. Two of them were very good-looking. Did you notice them?"

"You're talking about the two young ones?" Gwirithiel said eagerly and her eyes beamed with joy.

Arya felt an annoying feeling bubbling inside her, hearing this, and thought its cause was the returning of the pain in her wounds. "I had no idea you had such a liking for dwarves, Limwen" she said with a raised eyebrow.

The elf blushed, irritating Arya even more for a mysterious reason. "Well, I had not met those two before. Opinions can always change" she said and a wide smile illuminated her face.

"But you have to admit it my Lady, they are quite handsome" Gwirithiel piped up.

The Ranger thought about the two brothers. They were handsome, indeed. Fili, with his magnificent golden beard, fetching figure and kindness, and his pompous brother with the very fine eyes and handsome face. "_Am I drunk?_" she pondered and her eyes goggled in dread and surprise, realizing she had just admitted that Kili is handsome. Yet she tried her best to hide it, murmuring rather grudgingly, "I suppose someone could say they are charming."

Gwirithiel had a somewhat dreamy look on her face. "The blonde one seemed so nice and regal!"

"Oh, I really liked the other one. The one who was carrying you, my Lady. He seemed very protective of you. Is he a good friend of yours?"

Arya didn't know which was the dominant feeling inside her that moment, anger or mirth. It was a great irony the two elves thought that she and Kili were good friends and made her want to chuckle. "I wouldn't say so" she said gingerly.

"I always thought that dwarves had great beards. It is strange that he only has stubble" Limwen mumbled with a thoughtful look, recalling the image of the dwarf's face in her head. "It looks nice on him, though."

Arya cast a wary glance in each of them. She was sure that Thorin would willingly kill his nephews than have them courting two elves. "Forgive me for crashing your hopes ladies, but those two are the King's nephews. I'm positive that Thorin Oakenshield would not accept something else than dwarf royalty for his nephews' brides."

The two elves giggled at the last word. "My Lady, we were only commenting on their appearances. We never thought something like what you say" Gwirithiel said with a timid smile.

"I sincerely hope so. Because the height ratio would be just laughable" the Ranger jested and the three women shared a chuckle.

When she was done with the bath, the two elves escorted her to her old room. At first, they wrapped some bandages around the left over wounds and then started the preparations. They got her hair in a braid, helped her wear the dress that was laid on the bed for her and after she was dressed up properly, they excused themselves and left her alone.

Arya was slightly disappointed at the piece of clothing. She was never fond of dresses and found them very uncomfortable for everyday outfit, though she couldn't deny it was an admirable example of the elven sewing prowess. Looking at herself, she sighed loudly. She didn't look like a Ranger, she looked like a princess. Trying to forget the whole attire thing, she left her room and headed towards the dining table, all the while thinking about Lord Elrond's words of whom she would like to see, only to be stopped by a hand on her way.

Finally, one good thing happened and she almost yelled in relief at his sight. "Thank the Valar!" she exclaimed and fell into his arms.

* * *

A voice woke the two brothers from their slumber after a few hours. Fili opened his eyes and saw an elf stand in front of them, waiting to escort them to the dining room. The others were not there, meaning they had woken before them and already had joined the table.

As the two brothers followed the elf to the table, they heard a female voice. They saw a maiden with long black hair in a simple braid fall down her waist and her laughter echoing in the hall. Her face might be blocked from the figure of a tall man -he had to be of the race of Men, he didn't have pointy ears- hugging her, but Fili thought he had heard that laughter again. The man grabbed the woman in his arms and spun her around, making her laugh loudly. It was Arya.

Kili felt his heart skip a beat at her sight, relief overwhelming him when he saw that she was up and about, yet his face was seemingly blank and motionless at the scene evolving in front of his eyes. She saw them and made to move to their direction, the unknown man in tow holding her by the hand. Fili smiled and waved at her, motioning that they were heading to the dining room. She nodded and told him in a loud voice to hear, that she would join them later. Kili said nothing, did nothing and just stood still, ready to erupt, while looking intensely at the pair's joining hands. His brother had to nudge him to make him take his eyes off the pair and they kept following the elf that escorted them.

Aragorn noticed the look of the dark-haired dwarf and briefly smiled, acknowledging a sign of affection. He acknowledged it because himself was in love with Lord Elrond's daughter, Arwen. He was not going to judge his cousin or scold her, if she had taken a liking to the young dwarf or vice versa. At least he hoped that it was a simple liking; he knew that she was a beautiful woman, but also young, and he didn't want to see her get hurt. She had been hurt enough in her life as it was. He eyed her inquiringly, waiting to be told about her journey.

"There is no time for travelling tales" she declared and led him somewhere that they would not be disturbed. "I'm so glad you are well. I thought something happened to you" she said, her voice barely over a whisper.

"You always think something has happened to me" he snorted. "Now is there something that you wished to speak of?"

"I heard something alarming on our way here, when we met Radagast the Brown. He said there are giant spiders in Mirkwood- "

"We were already aware of that."

"What worried me was that he said they came from Dol Guldur and mentioned something of a Necromancer. Call me paranoid if you wish, but the past weeks I've been sensing something. You should see what creatures move around Emyn Uial and the shores of Nenuial. And I am not referring exclusively to orcs" she warned and a shadow seemed to blaze her eyes as she recalled a certain memory. "I do not know what it is, but I can feel it's there, waiting for the right moment to be revealed. It is something more powerful than I've ever felt" she said with pursed lips. "An old evil that has been awaken."

He placed his hands on her shoulders, surprised to see her eyes going wide with fear. Fear was a sentiment that seldom accompanied her and it disturbed him to see it in her now. "Arya, please. You are much tensed, _very_ injured from a warg attack, I'm sure you have not slept for a while and mainly, you are always concerned about something. Are you deliberately debilitating yourself?"

"What do you mean?"

"You have to stop worrying about everyone and everything so much."

"I do not worry about everything. I worry about you, because you are the only one left alive from my family and have no intention of losing you too!" she snapped.

"You will not lose me, as I have no intention to lose you as well. I miss the days when we were children." He hugged her and patted her back comfortingly. "Ú-'arnech in naeth i si celich."

She shrugged. "Those days have passed and will not return."

"Such words should not come from you. Life lies before you."

"I'm not sure if it was wise to preserve it after _that_ night."

She had managed to seriously worry him now. "Don't you ever say that again."

"The only reason that keeps me alive is you. I care not if you can defend yourself and don't want me to protect you. I gave a promise and I don't plan to break it."

Aragorn sighed quietly and shook his head. "Neither your father, nor your mother were stubborn. I really don't know how you became this stubborn." She tried to laugh, but no heart was there in it. "I will leave you in peace now. You have to join some gentlemen for dinner, as you promised. I shall see you in the morning" he said and escorted her back to the main hall.

* * *

The dwarves were deeply unpleased with the lack of meat in the table, but hungry enough to eat anything that would be offered to them, even elvish. Kili was sitting silent with his fists clenched, eating nothing, his look blank.

Fili was watching him, wondering about his sulking when they saw Arya with that man before. "Do you think that man was her betrothed?" he asked casually. "She seemed very happy to be with him and they looked quite nice together."

Kili shot him a wild look, swatting the table with his fists and growled, "I don't know and I don't care."

"_Mahal, I woke the beast_" Fili thought, casting an amused glance at him. "Yes, I can see that you don't" he hissed sardonically, mostly to himself.

Approaching the room where the dwarves were eating, she noticed Gandalf, Thorin, Balin and Bilbo were missing. Fili immediately jumped from his seat and ran to her, crushing her in a tight embrace. He was followed, with a pat on the shoulders and not a hug, by the rest of the dwarves, except from one of course.

She was not escorted by the man anymore, fact that allowed Kili to thoroughly observe her now. He despised himself for that, but couldn't help to not notice how nice she looked in a dress. Had he truly daresay that she was merely tolerable? He had never seen a dwarf woman even half pretty as she was. All the girls back in Ered Luin seemed flamboyant compared to her. She was simple, unadorned and yet ravishing at the same time, and might have no beard, but he could not imagine her with one. She was too pretty by herself. _"Did I just admit that she is pretty? That's it, the world is falling apart. Stop looking at her"_ he mentally scolded himself. He tried, but his eyes didn't seem to cooperate with his mental command.

"You seem like you have never met with a warg in your life, lass" Bofur said kindly.

She gave him a chuckle. "Dresses were never my first choice, Bofur."

They all were genuinely pleased to see her, except from one, who didn't even bother to greet her. She had made a deal with herself to try and behave at least nicely to him, since he had carried her from the Hidden Pass up to here. She didn't try to guess why he was so morose. There was no way she would ever understand how his mood and mind, or what possibly existed of it, worked. She sat next to Fili, giving both brothers a big smile, trying to get Kili to be less grumpy with no effect.

"Do they have no meat at all here? What are they eating?" Dwalin grunted.

"Elves usually avoid to eat meat during the summer" the Ranger said with a smile.

"And what do they eat? This?" Gloin said, wiggling a leaf of lettuce in front of his face. "This is lighter than air itself!"

"I believe you exaggerate, master Gloin. Vegetables never harmed anyone. You should give it a try."

The red bearded dwarf was about to take his first bite of the leaf, when Dori spoke. "Lass, how did the Elf Lord know you?"

"My brothers and I were born in Rivendell, but lived here only for a time. Also, both my mother and father were born and raised here; well, born with a difference of quite a few decades, but it doesn't matter." She smiled to herself, thinking of her parents' first meeting. How had they never come to meet in Rivendell, since they both lived here, but managed to meet in the middle of the wild was beyond her. Still, it made her deeply sad thinking that their lives were so quickly parted by the veil of death.

Dwalin scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. "You said your father was one of Men" he said suspiciously.

It was one of the rare times she had smiled with her eyes and the dwarf's observation made it last only briefly. "Yes, he was. Your point being?"

"Why was he born _here_?"

She raised her eyebrows and her expression turned serious and grim. "He had his reasons. Also, when last I checked, this was not of your business." She scolded herself for being so naive and actually believing that by now they had come to trust her. They would always keep in the back of their minds that she was of elvish ancestry and would never trust her completely. The only exception to this rule would probably be Bilbo, who did not seem to have any problem with the Elves. Instead, the small hobbit was fascinated by them. Even Fili, who was open-minded in contrast to the rest of the dwarves and did not consider her ancestry as something that made her untrustworthy, could possibly have his opinion changed by a speech from Thorin numbering the reasons why they should not trust her. She doubted Fili would ever speak ill of her, but she had learned to always have reservations.

Fili sensed a change in her mood and felt uncomfortable, as if Dwalin had touched a sore point. He cleared his throat in an attempt to prevent something, a fight for example, that none of those present would be inclined to witness. "You have recovered very quickly" he told her.

"Indeed, you have. We thought it would take you days to walk out of the bed" Ori remarked with a shy smile.

The smile returned to her face, even if it wasn't as lively as before. This time it neither graced her features nor illuminated her eyes. "Lord Elrond is an excellent healer. Though it was one of the few times that he has seen me in such condition, I believe."

"The lad, here, wouldn't let the elf take you from his arms" Bofur smirked, tapping Kili's shoulder lightly.

"Yes, yes. Not even after the Elf Lord told him that you would be safe" Fili piped up with a sly grin.

Kili had scowled and tried to avoid glances with everyone around the table. "If you were in my place, you would give her to the _Εlves_ so easily?" he grunted.

Fili raised his eyebrows, the large grin still dancing across his face. "I would have been in your place brother, but obviously our Ranger does not accept any other arms around her, except from yours."

All the dwarves giggled at the prince's quip, while Kili started fuming in anger. He caught the hint behind his brother's words, which was not only referring to the fact he carried her up to here, but also to the two nights they had slept next to each other.

Arya couldn't hide the unwilling blush that graced her face from the embarrassment. "He did not give me a chance to choose any other's arms, Fili. Still, I am grateful for what he did. I have to admit that I could barely stand" she said reluctantly and turned her face to address the younger prince. "And _you_ should be more grateful to those who offer you food and accommodation."

Kili rolled his eyes at her, getting extremely annoyed by the turning of the conversation. He would retort, if it weren't for his brother's hand on his shoulder to keep him composed, so he limited to only mumble, "Can we stop talking and eat this, so called, food?" A small part of him though, was satisfied that she had finally admitted she couldn't walk and thanked him for carrying her.

After the dinner, the dwarves returned to the large room to rest for the night, while the Ranger retired to her own. The dwarves had lit a fire, using elves' furniture as tinder and sat around it, merrily talking and singing. Only Kili couldn't find peace in Rivendell that night and roamed around the empty halls.

The young prince was struggling to convince himself that this distress was caused by the elves or the wine he had during dinner. But in fact, it was caused by the sight of Arya with that man. "_Why was she hugging him? What if Fili was right and he's her betrothed?_" he thought. "_Why do you care if he's her betrothed? What if he is? Stop thinking about her, you fool_" he commanded himself, when a familiar scream echoing in the hall interrupted the flow of his thoughts. He was sure it was hers and walked to its direction with a haste pace, full of worry about what made her scream. He was more than determined to enter the room to see if she was fine, when another figure showed up and opened the door of her room first.

It was the man they had seen her before with.

Kili hid behind a large pillar to avoid being seen and watched the man wake her up. For an unfathomable reason, his heart clenched at the sight of them hugging each other and made him grasp the stony pillar with great force in an effort to dig his nails in the cold stone, with no effect naturally. He could see they were talking but couldn't hear them, for their voices were very low.

* * *

_She was running to save him, but the distance seemed to getting larger instead. His hand had been tangled in the warg's fur and her heart was about to explode. She had lost her parents, she had lost her brothers, her uncle. "Please, not him too" she was begging. But it happened. The creature was running towards the edge of a cliff and fell off it, dragging him along and shuttering her already broken heart in pieces. He was another one of those she couldn't save now._

The door of her room opened abruptly and Aragorn entered quickly. Her legs were moving like she was running and she had grabbed the knife she always hid under her pillow, while screams were muffled under her gritted teeth.

Ten years ago, just before they would depart from Rivendell to rejoin the Rangers, he had given her this knife. Initially, she had strongly refused to accept it, claiming that it belonged to him and only him. Nevertheless, he knew her well enough to find a way to convince her otherwise, so after his satisfying explanation she took it. It couldn't even cross his mind that she would get hurt by it; yet there she was, squeezing the sharp blade in her hands, as thin lines of blood rolled down her fingers and stained the sheets.

He tried to take it out of her scratched hands and the movement startled her. She jerked upright with a heavy gasp, moving to attack him, still disoriented and unable to distinguish who he was. He stopped her hand just in time. "It was only a nightmare" his serene voice reassured and he hugged her. "Did you see them again?" he asked cautiously.

Arya could not utter a single word, still sweating and panting, so only shook her head in denial.

"Man cenich?"

"A warg was dragging you over a cliff and I couldn't reach you." She swallowed soundly, trying to regain control of herself. "You d-" Her voice cracked and tears filled her eyes, but she did not let them roll down.

"It's alright now, I'm here."

"Are you even listening to me? This is _not_ something that has happened in the past! What if this is a vision? What if this actually happens to you?" she snapped.

"Calm down."

She grasped his hands tightly. "Don't tell me to calm down! If something happens to you, then what? What am I going to do? Do you think they will let me become the Chieftain? Of course not! If you die, our line dies."

"You are aware of my choice."

Arya sighed in frustration. She was aware of his choice, indeed, but she did not agree with it. Exile was not a choice for someone like him, yet she could do nothing to change his mind.

His look softened. "Still, in case something happens to me, if you'll ever have a son, our line will not be broken."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but this is impossible."

"Why?"

She raised her eyes to meet his, confused that he had not caught her trail of thoughts. "If something happens to you, it means that I will already have died. No one will harm you as long as I still breathe" she said sternly, but a threatening, mischievous look blazed her eyes. "Unless they want to face the _storm_."

He had to admit that she was one of the very few people in the world that could make him laugh. He understood what she meant and thought about who would be so 'lucky' to face her wrath once it burst.

It was then when she observed that he was dressed and carried his weapons. "Are you leaving?"

"Yes. I was on my way to say goodbye to you, when I heard you. Now, be careful for the rest of your journey. I need you alive" he advised.

Her voice was almost pleading. "People need _you_ alive, not me. So please, take good care of yourself, since I'm not there to do it myself."

He gave her a half-hearted smile. "I hope when the time comes for you to understand that your life is worth a lot and is very important to some people, is not going to be too late. And I will take care of myself, you know that." He hugged her, kissing the top of her head. "Namárië."

"Namárië, a'mael selen."

Kili watched the man walk out of the room and her reluctantly move off the bed and close the door. "_Who in Durin's name is he? Why did he come in her room? I could wake her up and calm her as well!_" he thought indignantly and then huffed. "_Why am I thinking about her? Stop thinking about her. She's an idiot!_" He could not understand why he was torturing himself so much by thinking of her. "I'm officially out of my mind" he mumbled resignedly and walked back to the room where the others were. He laid on his bedroll, unable to force out the image of her with the unknown man.

* * *

**I iell nín = My daughter**

**Adar = Father**

**Be iest lîn = As you wish**

**Ú-'arnech in naeth i si celich = You did not wear the troubles you carry now**

**Man cenich? = What did you see?**

**Namárië, a'mael selen = Farewell, my beloved cousin**

**For the those who might find Aragorn's adulthood wrong: I know he was about 10 years old when the company arrived in Rivendell and his presence there was not even mentioned in the book. In the films though,**** the 17 year-old gap between Frodo inheriting the ring and starting the journey was not included and in the Two Towers, ****Aragorn told Eowyn he was 87 years old. So if you do the math by the films' dates, during the Hobbit he would be about 27 years old.  
**


	9. Chapter 8

**Thank you so much for your kind words, you really make my day! Please review, I really want to know if you like it or not!********  
**

**Title taken ****from 'Black acres' by Elysian Fields.**

* * *

_He holds me up like a babe, pressing close, I can't behave, I need to have this little death, I'm up against his downy chest_**  
**

* * *

"We need to talk, my friend" Aragorn said in a serious tone.

The wizard moved closer to the young man. "Forgive me for taking her away from her duties."

"Although I am glad she was given a chance to stop expending herself in protecting me, I believe you could have found someone else to join them" he said quietly, with the same knowing look his cousin had on her face the day she met Gandalf and Thorin.

"Anyone else would have given up trying to bring a dwarf King to his right mind." The wizard was perfectly aware of what he wanted to tell him. "But I sense this is not what you wished to talk to me about."

"She heard you and I've always trusted her instinct. Do you think she's right?"

"I believe so. If it's any consolation to you, I intend to venture to the old fortress in the near future and see what is the matter there."

The young Ranger nodded thoughtfully. "She is much worse than I remember her to be. The nightmares seem to affect her more as the time passes."

"There is something more" the wizard said with a knowing look.

Aragorn let a displeasing sigh, the memory of her most recent nightmare still in his mind. "She may has started having visions."

"They may simply be dreams and not visions" Gandalf reassured him. "Do not forget, future can change even with the most unimportant decision we make."

"Gandalf, keep an eye on her. Arya is the only one left of my kin." He didn't want this to sound like a warning, but he could not help it. If any harm found her, he didn't know how he was capable of reacting.

"I will my friend, do not worry" the wizard said. "I would also consider it wise to have some of your men run more patrols near Amon Súl."

Aragorn nodded and the two men bid farewell. Gandalf followed Elrond, who watched them from afar and patiently waited for them to end their conversation.

* * *

Arya dressed up and walked out of her room, heading to the healing house to wrap the scratches in her hands. Lord Elrond was not there and she limited to only clean the cuts, put some salve on and bundle a bandage over them. She left the healing house and wandered in the halls for a while, gazing at the night sky when there was an opening above her.

"May I have a word with you?" Thorin's voice brought her back to reality.

She nodded and led him to a small glade in the large garden. "Yes?" she said expectantly, studying his face to discover any hints of what he was about to tell her.

Thorin knew that no one could possibly know how dangerous this quest could get. But today's events had proven his fears real. The very thought of losing one of his nephews sneaked in his mind the moment he saw the warg chase Kili and the thought decidedly clung to it for the rest of the day. Also, the fact that it had been _her_ to save Kili, instead of him or one of the company, made him feel even worse. His distrust for her had emerged more powerful when he saw her familiarity with the Elves. Of course, this was to be expected since her mother was one of them, but his opinion towards the particular race would not be bent so easily. In any case, no matter how he felt, his nurture constrained him to behave honorably to Kili's savior. "I would like to thank you for saving my nephew."

Arya let out a small sigh of amusement and smiled, "So nobility _does_ oblige." The great King under the Mountain had just paid her his gratitude. If that wasn't news, then what was? "I told you that you would need my protection."

"Indeed" he said seriously. "But you could have been killed, which would be a very unfortunate event."

Her face scrunched up in confusion. "I don't understand" she said, cocking her head slightly. "Since when do you care about my well being?"

"Since you are part of the company" he replied in a very low voice. He thought she had sensed his difficulty to say or actually believe these words. "And since my nephews would risk their lives to save you."

"I did not ask of anyone to give their lives for me, especially not your nephews. If my life is destined to be taken, it will be. No one will prevent this from happening."

"They would try to save you, no matter what."

"Why?" she said, perplexed.

"Each for different reasons."

"Would you care to be less ambiguous?"

He hesitated, but his voice was stern when he spoke. "It is not my place to elaborate on this. You will understand one day in the future." He hoped she never would. "Therefore, I expect you to be more careful from now on, for the sake of all of us."

She narrowed her eyes in complete and utter confusion. "You speak in riddles, Thorin Oakenshield."

He saw her completely unaware of the meaning behind his words and, admittedly with relief, changed the subject. "We were able to read the map. We will leave before dawn, for I do not want the elves to obstruct us. The others are informed."

The Ranger nodded. "With all due respect, but I doubt Kili would give his life for me" she said thoughtfully, watching the dwarf walk away from her.

Thorin paused his pace for a moment, wavering as to answer or not, but eventually kept walking in silence.

His words were eerie and Arya did not want to torture her mind with them as well. Instead, she sat on a small bench and gazed at the stars again. Enough troubles filled her mind, as to how many months she was going to be separated from her cousin and what could happen to him during her absence. She compelled all the disturbing thoughts move to the back of her head and returned to her room to prepare.

Dawn was about to come, as they all gathered in the front door ready to leave. Thorin carefully observed Kili, who seemed distant and angry. After his nephew, he observed the young woman, who was more reserved and pensive than usual, and asked her to lead the way out of Rivendell. They had to leave quickly, so as not to be caught by any of its residents.

The Ranger was glad at Thorin's request to lead them. She felt bad that she hadn't seen her cousin as long as she desired, but it was better than not see him at all. She led them out of there, taking the path that led to the mountains.

After an exceptionally silent and uneventful hiking of a few days, they made camp in a small clearing, a few yards away from a stream that eventually led up to a small cascade. It would be a good chance to gather adequate water supplies for their trip through the Misty Mountains. The dwarves and the hobbit had created a small circle around the fire that was lit. Arya removed her cloak and bodice, staying only in her tunic. The tightness of the bodice made the wounds where the warg bit her, itchy. Absentmindedly, she took two bandages out of her cloak and unrolled them. She was wearing fingerless gloves and those which were already wrapped around her palms could not be seen.

"Are you injured, lass?" Bombur asked, stirring the branches to rekindle the fire.

"You should have my brother to check your wounds" Gloin piped up, earning a nod from Oin.

Arya shook her head in regret. What could she possibly tell them? That the wounds were caused by her own knife from her own hands? They would consider her crazy and she was not in mood for long explanations now. She should have walked away before taking the bandages out. "Thank you, but it's nothing, really. I can handle it myself" she said with a smile and the dwarves nodded.

She disappeared behind the trees, near the stream, taking her gloves off and unwrapping the bloodied bandages that covered her hands on her way there. The relief she felt, when she dipped her hands in the cold water, was indescribable. With a clean piece of cloth, she started cleaning the dried blood, leaving the clean bandages on the ground next to her, when she heard someone's pace behind. In swift moves, she wrapped the old ones back to cover her palms, hoping that the intruder would not pay attention to them.

* * *

"Be a good lad and fetch some water" Gloin ordered, clapping Kili on the shoulder.

As the young dwarf walked to the small stream with two flasks in his hands, he observed the kneeling figure near the bank. He scuffed closer, his eyes narrowing at the sight of her enshrouding something over her wrists. "Why the bandages?" he inquired.

Lovely. Just lovely. Of all fourteen others, it had to be him. She had told Fili that she would ignore him. Then she saved him and during the dinner in Rivendell, he was far more than grumpy -undoubtedly a trait he had inherited from Thorin. He hadn't even thanked her yet. "_Why the sudden care?_" she wanted to say, but the words did not leave her mouth. "It's nothing" she dismissed him with the hope he would flee from near her.

"You had no injuries in your hands from the warg. What happened?" he asked suspiciously, dropping the flasks on the ground and taking her hands in his.

Arya tried to pull her hands out of his, but he wouldn't let her. "I said nothing. Now let me go" she grunted, glaring warily at him.

"I asked you what happened."

"These are _my_ hands, which subsequently makes it no business of yours."

"Tell me what happened now."

"I said _let me go_" she said, emphasizing every word.

He shot her a warning look. "Don't make me ask a fourth time."

"Don't make me tell you to let me go a fourth time."

They were glaring at each other with burning looks, each one trying to impose his will upon the other, until Kili's patience evaporated and pulled her hands towards him to unfold the bandages. She pulled them back, struggling to get free from his grip. Both were putting up a valiant fight, no one being able to dominate, until they tottered with such force, that they lost their balance and fell into the stream, splashing water around. She ascended on the surface first and he followed after her.

"Why do you always have to wreak havoc?" he yelled, gasping for air.

She was in the same state, soaked to the bone and gasping. "By the Valar, it hurts me. Your stupidity physically hurts me" she panted, spitting water in the process.

"We ended up in here because of you and your stubbornness!"

"Oh, really?" she roared. "No one told you to come and talk to me, you insufferable twit!"

Kili grabbed her from the waist, dragging her along with him to the bank. He didn't expect anything else from her than trying to get free again. He laid her on the ground and leaned his weight over her, just like she did when they had sparred, to make her stop flailing about. He took her delicate hands back in his and unrolled the bandages, goggling as he saw the scars. "What in Durin's name happened to your hands?" he exclaimed in dread. How this woman could be injured even in Rivendell was beyond him.

"It's only some scratches."

"Should you have your hands amputated to say the word 'cuts'?" he snapped, examining her wrists thoroughly.

"Let me go."

"Not until you tell me how you acquired these."

Her head tilted back, as she rolled her eyes and sighed in frustration. "I did this to myself" she admitted. He was ready to yell, when she stopped him and continued talking. "I was asleep. I had a nightmare and always have a knife under my pillow, so it was an accident."

He realized what she was talking about, even if she had no idea that he did. Thankfully, the unknown man that woke her must have taken the knife out of her hands, or else who knows what could have happened.

She shook her head impatiently, huffing, "Can I have my hands back now?"

"No" he said and held them tighter in his, leaning to his side and grabbing the clean bandages she had left on the ground before.

"Can you at least get off me?" she snorted.

Kili realized he was almost lying on her when she said that and awkwardly removed himself from top of her. He stood up, pulling her with him, never letting go of her hands, and carefully began wrapping the bandages around them. It was that moment when he remembered that their clothes were soaked, as he noticed her tunic sticking to places it shouldn't and certain things poking through it.

It was also that exact moment, when Fili's voice emerged through the woods. "Are you two fighting again?" the blonde dwarf cried, curious for their long absence. He peeped his head out of a tree, dumbfounded by the sight and, mostly, the state of their wet clothes, especially Arya's tunic clinging on her torso. The shocking part was that they were holding each other's hands. The hilarious part was Kili's efforts to avert his gaze from the white, now almost transparent, fabric of her tunic.

An enormous cunning grin crept on Fili's face and he raised his eyebrows. "Or you are obviously doing something much more interesting. Have I interrupted something?" he asked innocently. Both cast him stern glares and Kili lowered his face back to her hands, reflexively stepping in front of her to cover her quite provocative, considering the clothing state, figure from his brother's eyes. Completely undeterred from her clothing state and his brother's lame attempt to cover her, Fili walked closer, observing him as he finished the wrapping. "What's the matter?"

"Except that she's an idiot, not much" Kili mocked, as he took the flasks off the ground and filled them with water.

"Look who's talking" she sneered.

"I'm not the one who sleeps with a bloody knife under his head."

A weird look of anger and sarcasm spread on her face. "Of course not. You are the one who cannot keep his large nose out of other people's business!"

Kili's face turned red in anger and he threateningly took a few steps towards her. "You little, insolent-"

Fili stepped in front of his brother's way, grabbing his shoulders and warning him with a stern voice, "Kili!" He then turned to face her, observing a tiny silver buckle on her neck, hanging from a leather string. "There is something on your neck" he noted, taking his own cloak off him to place it over her shoulders and cover her.

Her hands hovered over her neck, taking the chain on her hands. Her eyes went wide in absolute shock, as she examined it. "Oh no. Damn, no! Why? Why of all things, this?" she gritted through her teeth, tossing her arms in despair.

Fili eyed her warily. "What's wrong?"

She ignored him, stomping over his brother and punching his shoulder. "Why do you have to make my life so miserable?"

"How exactly did I achieve that?" Kili groaned, pursing his lips.

"Arya, what's wrong?" Fili insisted.

She ignored him again, moving closer to Kili, now mere inches separating them. "There was a silver pendant hanging here" she hissed, wiggling the leather chain in front of his face.

"And?"

If looks could kill, she would have killed him ten times by now. "In case you didn't notice, it's gone."

"What's your point?" Kili growled.

"My point is that it was here before you showed up. It obviously fell from the chain, when we fell into the water and I've lost it."

"He will replace it, don't worry" Fili said and patted her shoulder, in an attempt to calm her and prevent another fight.

She turned around to look at him with a fierce glare. "It was an heirloom of my family. It was the _only_ heirloom of my family. It can't be replaced!" she shouted.

"It was not my fault we fell into the stream" Kili suddenly yelled. "If you had shown me the cuts in your hands in the first place, none of this would have happened!"

"So this was my fault? You are-" Arya was ready to erupt, but with great efforts, managed to restrain her rage. "You know what? Here is a brilliant idea. Why don't you dip your head under the water and I'll count to one thousand?" she roared and started walking across the bank, searching for the lost pendant.

Kili was boiling from the inside out. "Why did I even care about you and your bloody hands?" he wondered in a huffy whisper, shaking his head in anger and frustration.

Greatly amused by their fight, Fili tried to think of a girl his brother -according to his sayings- hated and at the same time was so protective of her, but couldn't found any. "Come, brother. I don't want you to kill each other." He heard Kili grumbling something under his breath and they returned to the camp with acrid moods.

"What took you so long?" said Gloin.

"Why are your clothes wet, lad?"

Kili shot them a tired look, as he handed the two flasks back to their owners. He took his wet tunic off, leaving it by the fire to dry, and went directly to his bedroll to lie down. He tucked himself under his cloak, not wanting to hear or speak to anyone.

"What's the matter?" Dwalin inquired.

Fili made a dismissive sound, motioning them to not start this conversation.

"Where is Lady Arya?" Bilbo asked, noticing her absence.

"She lost something and now she's searching for it" Fili said. After a long hour, he decided to return back to the stream and offer his help. He saw her on her knees, searching the ground inch by inch, with a wide frown on her face. "Any luck?"

"Luck has forsaken me long ago. Why should it remember my existence now?" she mumbled, not bothering to look at him.

"It seems you could use some help."

Arya turned to look him with eyes so cold and glassy, that made him take a step back. "There is a waterfall a few yards down from here, Fili." She swiftly stood up with puckered lips and continued in a sarcastic tone, "So unless there is a chance for the pendant to grow actual _limbs_ in order to swim back to me, I'm quite positive it is lost."

He gave her a comforting glance, but it didn't seem to comfort her at all. So he did what he could only do to ease her tension; turn the conversation to a jest. "You had said something that you were going to ignore my brother?"

"I'm trying. I'm just failing" she grumpily murmured through clenched teeth.

Fili chuckled under his breath. Mentioning his brother perhaps wasn't the wisest thing to do, but he would never miss a chance to see her grouching about Kili. It was all too fun to miss such a sight. "I warned you that you two wouldn't last to ignore each other for more than minutes."

"And why is that?"

"Because fighting with each other is what feeds you."

Her brows furrowed and her instinct told her that the topic might get out of hand. "You are aware that your words don't make any sense, right?"

"Oh come on" he sighed and threw his arms about exasperatedly. "The attraction between the two of you is more obvious than the sun."

Arya gulped, pulling an exaggerated grimace of utter terror. "Sure, provided that it's midnight" she growled and walked back to the camp, miffed, with the blonde dwarf in tow. If she didn't consider him a friend, she would have elbowed him. What he said was, in the least, absurd for her.

"Did you find what you were looking for, lass?" Balin asked as soon as he saw the two of them approach.

She scowled and glared at Kili's place. "No, I did not."

Bofur noticed that her clothes were also soaked and put two and two together. "Did you two go for a night bath?" he teased slyly, pointing at her and then to where Kili was lying, not catching the warning nod Fili sent him.

The others snickered at the dwarf's comment, but their smiles faded when they saw her face turn pale.

"We had a small accident" she said blankly. "Kili could really use a bath, though" she added with a sneer, causing the rest to laugh again.

They did not eat anything that night, in order to store their food supplies for the long road that lied before them.

Arya walked away from the fire, taking her spare pair of clothes with her. She found a large rock to hid behind and change, already shivering from the cold breeze. She then climbed on a tree away from the sleeping figures of the company's members and laid on a thick branch, gazing at the sky into the peace of the night. It had been a while since the last time she did that and it felt almost liberating now. Her hands traced over her lower neck, where her mother's pendant was hanging for the last thirteen years, while the memory of the night her mother gave it to her was revived in her mind.

"_Arya, come down!" a loud voice echoed._

_The young girl deftly climbed down the tree, obeying her mother's words._

"_There is something I want you to have."_

"_What is it, naneth?"_

_She opened a small, carved box and a silver piece of jewelry made its appearance. Gently taking it in her hands, she offered it to her daughter. "This belonged to my family for years and is customary to be passed from one generation to another. It is something that its keepers cherished greatly, __each for his own unique reason.__" There was a brief pause here and she smiled to herself as if she recalled something amusing, prompting her daughter to cast her a suspicious look. The smile did not abandon her lips, as she continued, "You will find yours when the time comes."_

It was not of great value, like the Ring of Barahir that Aragorn bore. Arya had just grown emotionally attached to it, as she was fascinated by the mystery that enveloped it and very curious to discover the reason her mother had mentioned. And it was also the second most precious item she carried on her after her cousin's knife.

A distant shuffling cut short the train of her thoughts. She turned her head towards the camp and watched as an awake Kili put his tunic on and sat by the fire next to Thorin. Something stirred in her stomach at the sight of the young dwarf's bare, muscular torso and the downy hairs on his chest. She could hear the two of them discuss silently, but chose to pay no mind to their words and instead sink into her memories again.

* * *

Kili's face peeped out of his cloak, checking to see if everyone was asleep. He saw his uncle seated upright, his turn to keep watch obviously. He took the cloak off him and walked near the fire to put his tunic back on. His eyes quickly scanned the area, immediately noting someone's absence from the camp. "Where is she?"

Thorin let a sour huff and wrinkled his nose, as if a bad smell had reached his nostrils. "She doesn't have to explain herself for everything she does."

For an odd, nagging reason, Kili wanted her to be within his sight to know that she was safe. She had managed to cut herself in Rivendell. Now that they were in the wild, much worse could happen to her. "I'm going to find her" he said with a determined look on his face, intending to bring her back to the camp even if he would have to drag her along with him.

"Maybe she doesn't want to be found."

"But if she's away-" Kili cut his sentence in the middle when he saw his uncle's stern look. It had been a long while since the last time he earned that look from Thorin and felt like a wee child again.

"Sit down" Thorin ordered. He paused for a while, waiting for Kili to settle himself next to him. "I don't want you to get distracted by her, or her by you."

"I am not distracted by her" his nephew protested.

"Then why all this haste to find her?"

Kili stared at his uncle, unable to comprehend his nonchalance. "Something may happen to her!"

"She is a Ranger" Thorin stated, making the last word to come out somewhat resentful. "There is no situation she could not handle."

The young dwarf jumped up and in fast moves, tied his bow and sword on his belt, and moved to walk away from the camp.

"Kili, I pointed something out to you" his uncle's strict voice was heard from behind.

"Yes, I heard it. I am not going to find her" he said blankly. And technically it was true, he was not going to find her.

Thorin snorted gloomily as he saw his nephew lope towards the woods near the stream. Kili reached the place where they had fallen in the water and began searching the ground thoroughly, but sadly with no results. He started trudging across the bank, following the current of the stream with wide eyes and scanning every inch of the water for a glimpse of something silver.

He roamed for hours and it was almost dawn, when in his next step, a light tinkling reached his ears. His foot moved back and he saw a small piece of silver jewel, deep in mud and almost buried in the dirt. It was that. It _had_ to be that. He realized he had deviated very far from their camp, sure that she had abandoned any hope to find it the moment she noticed the strong current of the stream. Yet, if she had moved a little further she would have seen it with her elvish eyesight.

He thanked his good luck for making him step on it, or else any effort to find it would be futile. He rinsed it in the water and then scrutinized it in his hands, distinguishing some patterns and a few words in elvish that he could not understand. It was definitely that, he was certain now. "_So this is what caused the great mayhem_" he thought, amused. His heartbeat increased when he imagined of her reaction. But in mere seconds, other feelings prevailed upon those. "_You don't care about her reaction. You won't care about her reaction. You only want to make her apologize for what she told you_" he thought, trying to reassure himself for the honesty behind his thoughts. He clasped the pendant tightly in his hand and took the way back. A bizarre emotion was bubbling under his chest. It was like this simple silver jewel was a living piece of her and he was carrying it with him.

When he reached the camp, he saw that a few were already awake and prepared their things with sleepy looks, but Arya was still absent. He walked straight to Thorin to ask him if she had returned after he left, but his feet stopped when she suddenly sprout in front of him. Kili opened his mouth to talk, but the look she gave him made him reflexively shut it. He thought she was obviously livid about the pendant, so he decided to wait until the night when they would set camp again to give it to her, eagerly waiting to hear her thanks and apology for her words.

Arya, on the other hand, was not livid, only had accepted that it was lost and would have to live without it. She had also told Fili that she would ignore his brother for the sake of everyone's nerves, mainly her own. And that was precisely what she intended to do from now on.

* * *

**Naneth = Mother**

**Yes, yes, I know, Kili finding the pendant was very predictable, but she has to have it back for some reasons that will be explained in future chapters. Also, I promise you that it has nothing to do or bears any resemblance to the Evenstar necklace Arwen gave to Aragorn.**


	10. Chapter 9

**Thank you for the reviews and please keep them coming! Now, I have to apologize in advance if this is not good enough, but I have been sick for the last three days and my brain is not in the mood to cooperate to allow me write a good chapter.**

**Title taken ****from 'Gimme Shelter' by The Rolling Stones. The greatest song ever! Well, in my humble opinion at least.**

* * *

_Oh, a storm is threatening my very life today, if I don't get some shelter, oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away_**  
**

* * *

Fili saw his brother ready to talk to her and her haughtily avoid him. "Seriously now?" he asked, creeping behind her back.

She turned her head, giving him the same blank glare she had given him back at the stream. "I told you that I am going to ignore him."

The blonde dwarf let a sigh and tapped her arm. "He didn't mean to make you lose it."

"Still, it is lost" she said calmly.

"It was just an unlucky event. Why can't you see the gesture with its original meaning? He thought that something hurt you. He was worried about you!"

That would be the joke of the week, or rather of the month. "Thin ice, Fili. Thin ice" she hissed.

He abandoned his attempt to reason with her. From the little he knew her, he had figured out that she could be more stubborn than a dwarf if she wanted to.

It was still early morning, but they were all up and prepared to begin their hiking again and follow the Great East Road through the Misty Mountains. Their breakfast was quite frugal, as they kept all their supplies for the difficult days and nights that were about to come.

_Bilbo was standing in the small balcony and gazed over the Valley and the __beauty unfolding__ in front of his eyes in all its magnificence. He failed to hear the light footsteps approaching him._

_"Not with your companions?"_

_The deep, slow voice startled him and he turned to face the tall Elf Lord. "I... I shan't be missed" he stammered and the words came out quite bitterly. "The truth is that most of them don't think I should be on this journey."_

_"Indeed?__" Elrond inquired and fixed him with an examining look. "I've heard that hobbits are very resilient."_

_The hobbit blurted out a half-hearted chuckle before narrowing his eyes in disbelief. "Really?"_

_The elf nodded 'yes', studying him more closely now. "I've also heard they are fond of the comforts of home."_

_Bilbo smiled faintly. "I've heard that it's not wise to seek the counsel of elves, for they will answer with 'yes' _and_ 'no'" he said in a low voice, casting a cautious, conspiratorial glance around._

_Elrond initially gave away no emotion nor reacted to the hobbit's words. Bilbo's face expression faltered for a brief second, thinking that he had offended him, but let another small chuckle when he saw him smile._

_"You are very welcome to stay here, __if that is your wish__" Elrond said kindly, patting the hobbit's shoulder before leaving him in peace. "Although, I believe you should know that__ Arya is fervently supportive of you__."_

_Bilbo was __mulling over the elf's words, deeply grateful for whatever Arya had said to the elf. It briefly made his spirits to lift a bit. He __remained there in the small balcony, having as his only company the sound of running water from the waterfalls and the merry chirp of the flying birds, and pondered about what else this journey would bring to them._

The Ranger glanced over her shoulder to the hobbit and often caught him looking behind. "You can visit again upon your return" she whispered to him.

Bilbo's look was that of when a child is caught doing a mischief and full of melancholy. "It was really beautiful" he said and cautiously added with a whisper, "The Elves were so nice." He avoided to mention the part that he was invited to stay there, out of fear that he would be heard by some of the dwarves. He was already risking his place just by saying that the elves were nice. Perhaps, some other time, if he found some time away from prying ears, he would reveal it to her.

A kind smile graced her face and she laughed under her breath. "I know and to be honest, I quite miss it myself. Rivendell is the only place in this world I can call home. But we don't want to give Thorin another reason to frown upon us, right?"

"I do not believe that he thinks of you as an outcast. He considers you a member of the company now, in contrast to me."

She raised her eyebrows and shook her head from side to side. If he was present at the small conversation she had nights ago with the King or at dinner in Rivendell, he would surely understand that the majority of the dwarves did not trust her. It was simply in their nature to be leery of people out of their own race. "Bilbo, Thorin Oakenshield will never consider a descendant of the Elves as part of his company, regardless of what he says. Unless a miracle happens, of course" she concluded with a small smirk. "Also, I would like to apologize for neglecting your sword training all these days."

"Please, do not apologize. You were injured and we all were in dire need of rest, so it is perfectly alright" Bilbo reassured her and took an apple out of his pack to eat.

She left him to enjoy his snack in peace and kept walking silently behind him.

* * *

All week long as they traveled, a strange feeling was forming inside her about the road, that something bad was going to happen. The present day was a bad one regarding the weather conditions, the road being full of small and at some points rather large puddles of mud. The poor weather made almost all the dwarves grouch and whine like a bunch of tots, a grumpy Thorin more grumpy than usual and sulk over them, Bilbo stay as quiet as he could so as not to receive any scolding, and Arya's nerves get jittery.

Implementing the usual distraction for once more, she shut all the annoying complaints away from her mind. She was deep in her thoughts when it started to pour down rain just before dark fell over them, prompting her to put on her hood and tighten the cloak around her shoulders. It was obviously going to be one of those cold nights, wet and windswept; the kind that makes people anxious to find a shelter to hide. Something also triggered that sinister feeling of hers to solidify more and more as time went by.

The path they had taken today -after Thorin's decision and a heated argument with the Ranger who was fervently opposed to his choice- was one of the worst in these lands. It was small, narrow, craggy and dangerous stones were laid on every step. It fit no more than one person to walk at a time, so they formed a line and paced carefully. Thorin was now leading alongside Dwalin, and everyone was silent, paying much attention to their steps. A bolt of lightning tore the sky in two and the rain started pouring all its rage upon them.

The hobbit was too immersed in the dark landscape the huge mountains offered, not really noticing his pace, and loud yell left his mouth as he slipped on the edge.

"Bilbo!" He would fall if it wasn't Arya's hands to pull him back.

"We must find shelter!" Thorin's voice came from the front.

A lightning bolt momentarily blinded them, which was consequently accompanied by another cracking sound that filled the air. The rumbling thunder was followed by another bright lightning and someone caught a glimpse of a huge moving shadow.

"Look out!"

On very short notice, a large rock crashed on the mountain directly above the path they were crossing.

"Hold on!"

They barely had time to cling tightly on the mountain, when the mountainside started collapsing on their heads.

"This is no thunder storm. It's a thunder battle! Look!" Balin screamed, pointing at two huge, stony figures, colliding with each other with great force.

"Well bless me, the legends are true! Stone giants!" Bofur yelled in a mix of fright and amazement.

Rather large rocks fell down on them, scraping their bodies in the most painful ways. The path cracked and its width became extensively smaller. The Ranger put her arm in front of the hobbit to push him behind her. Fili had wrapped his hand around her waist, pulling her close to him, and Kili had instinctively put his own in front of them, pushing them further back to the mountain.

But the worst had not happened yet. The ground beneath their feet started shaking and they all watched in terror the mountain splitting in half.

"What's happening?" Kili yelled frightfully.

"Kili!" Fili yelled back.

Yes, she had promised to ignore him, but it was impossible to fight her natural instincts. Her heart leaped into her mouth when she saw him move away. "Grab my hand!" she cried, tottering dangerously close to the edge in a desperate attempt to bring him with them.

The brothers had the same reaction as her heart did before, when she almost slipped off the path. "Arya, no!" they both bellowed and Fili frantically pulled her back.

The giant's leg, where the rest stood, collided with a rock and Arya saw them jump into another seemingly steadier path. For a brief second she was relieved, but the feeling was immediately replaced by fear and giddiness. The giant, where she and the others still were, fell into a vortex of restless moving, making them lose any sense of orientation.

The others watched the giant's leg totter in front of their eyes and slowly head to crash on the mountainside.

Arya scanned the place they would be smashed, if they were lucky enough and the giant didn't collapse before reaching the steady part of the mountain. They could survive if they were quick and careful, for there was a dimple where they could land. What she had failed to notice in all this turmoil, was the protruding sharp jag of a rock in the spot she was about to fall, with a great chance of cutting her in half in the best case.

"Jump!" she urged the others.

She clutched Fili's hand, who was almost ready to slip forward and held him back, as the giant's leg leaned towards the mountain in front of them. Luck hadn't forsaken her after all, as she caught a glimpse of the sharp rock and jumped slightly higher than the others to avoid it. The leg crashed into the mountainside, causing it to break into splinters and sent the giant down to the dark abyss.

"No!" everyone shouted in horror.

"Fili!" Thorin's desperate cry echoed around, frightened by the thought of losing one of his nephews.

They all ran over the spot where the giant had collapsed, with Thorin smiling in relief that they were all alive and hastily making his way towards his nephew.

Arya felt a bunch of rock chunks fall heavily on her, enhancing the bruises and cuts she was sure that were already spread on her back. Kili had sprung forward when Thorin yelled, almost trespassing all those who stood on the small path. His tension flew away the moment he faced Fili standing upright with a lost look on his face. The two brothers crushed each other in a tight embrace, uttering words of relief, and then Fili moved to help poor Bombur, who was stuck on the ground. All the tension and fright returned when Kili searched for another figure, not seeing her among those who stood up now.

After moments of panic which seemed like hours, he found her lying on a rock, facing down. Her body was spread clumsily on it and her arms were hanging on either of her sides. He ran at her side, shifting her in his arms to turn her head to face him. His heart was pounding when he saw how worryingly motionless she was.

Arya felt someone grabbing her shoulders and shaking her violently. Her eyes snapped open and she jerked upright, facing a pair of familiar eyes.

Kili exhaled sharply in relief, a breath he had not realized he was holding. "Thank Mahal!"

She was quite disoriented and his attitude did not help the situation at all. Since when was he happy that she was alright? "Am I dead?" she asked, eyeing him warily.

"No, you're alive."

"I am alive and you're happy about it?" She narrowed her eyes, making a grimace of doubt. "Yeah, I definitely must be dead" she concluded. He briefly smirked before helping her up from where she was laid on the rock.

"Where's Bilbo? Where is the hobbit?" Bofur suddenly yelled.

All fourteen eyes searched for him, until Dwalin pointed to an edge where Bilbo was hanging. He, Bofur and the Ranger ran to save him. "Grab my hand" they cried in unison.

Bilbo was struggling to hold himself steady and reach one of the hands hanging above his head, but every attempt was futile. Then, Thorin jumped down the cliff, grabbing the hobbit and helping him up to the others. He would slip further down, if it wasn't Arya's hand, along with Dwalin's to ascend him up as well. Once he was safe, looked at her and clapped her slightly in her shoulder as 'thanks'. She was quite surprised to receive such a gesture from him and returned to the spot she had landed before, to collect some of her scattered stuff.

"I thought we lost our burglar" Dwalin panted, relieved that everyone was safe.

"He's been lost ever since he left home. He should never have come. He has no place amongst us" Thorin accused gruffly.

Arya thought that some people would never change. Thorin would stay grumpy in his whole life. "Enough!" she snapped. "He didn't do anything to deserve such treatment from you. It wasn't his fault he slipped! It could have happened to anyone."

Thorin felt his anger rise but didn't have time to fight now. A cave was hidden behind them and he nervously shoved himself to the inside.

"We have to find somewhere else to stay for the night" Arya grunted behind him.

"It looks safe enough" came Dwalin's protest. He was quite tired and worn to have the courage and keep searching for another cave with the giants' battle raging out there.

For a mere second, Thorin doubted his decision to stay there and thought to follow her lead. "Search to the back. Caves in the mountains are seldom unoccupied" he eventually told Dwalin.

The husky dwarf obeyed immediately. "There's nothing here" his voice emerged from the back.

"Thorin, Gandalf brought me to this quest for a reason. Listen to me, we must move on and find shelter somewhere else."

"If you are able to find something better, be my guest. We will rest here until your return" he growled.

"Very well then" she snorted and angrily crossed her arms over her chest, exchanging heated glances with him.

Some of the dwarves seemed slightly annoyed by their leader's rude attitude towards the hobbit and her. The Ranger was something more than annoyed and made a point to it by doing abrupt moves, while rearranging her weapons.

Fili shyly leapt out at her side with an appreciative look. "Thank you for holding me back there."

"I wouldn't let you fall. The last I want is to lose a friend."

He gave her a wide smile before talking again. "A friend along with his brother" he said with a smirk.

Her hands paused what they were doing and she felt small tweaks in her stomach. "I know how it is to lose a brother, Fili. I've lost two. I couldn't stand seeing you suffer if you lost him" she mumbled.

"Is this the only reason you rushed to bring him with us? So we could die together?" he asked thoughtfully.

Arya wasn't sure for the sincerity of her thoughts and the possible words that could come out of her mouth. She had reached to a point where she doubted the motives of her own actions. Her mind was a tumbling mess right now and it had nothing to do with the swirling of the giant's leg from before. She had forgotten to answer him, sinking into her thoughts for once more, as she put her hood and cloak back on.

Fili's hand stopped her when he saw her walk towards the entrance. "Where are you going?" he asked, prompting his brother to turn his attention to them.

"To find a place for us to rest for the night, where I will not hold the feeling that someone is tracking us" she grunted, emphasizing each of the words for Thorin to hear.

Kili circled them, coming to stand in front of her as well. "Are you going to go out there all by yourself?" his voice reached unknown pitches.

"He's right. We are coming with you" Fili piped up with a nod of agreement.

Their uncle glared at both of them, scolding them with his eyes, irritated by their overly affection towards her. "You're going nowhere. Take out our bedrolls" he chastised.

Both princes were ready to defy him in order to accompany her, but she refused their offer before an argument could erupt. "For your information, I have survived alone for quite the time before meeting you. Now, if you'll excuse me." Walking past Fili and slinking away from Kili in a swift motion when he tried to stop her again, she exited the cave and left them bewildered.

"Get some sleep. We start at the first light" Thorin ordered starkly.

"We were to wait in the mountains until Gandalf joined us" Balin whispered with a look of doubt, cocking his head from side to side. "That was the plan."

"Plan's changed" Thorin told him in a low voice. "Bofur, take the first watch."

* * *

"_She is an idiot_" Kili thought for the hundredth time and shut his eyes, letting an exasperated sigh. Every time that sleep was about to claim him, he would see the very same thing. Arya walking on the narrow path, slipping on the rocks and falling into the darkness. "_I am an idiot. I should have gone with her._" He had reached new levels of worry, which he didn't know he possessed and was constantly shifting awkwardly from one side to another.

"Calm down" Fili, as if he could clearly hear his brother's thoughts, hustled to reassure him. She was right in saying that she had survived alone before meeting them, but this did not take his own concern away. In any case, he couldn't reach his brother's in the slightest.

Kili was caught by surprise. "What?"

"In case you didn't notice, your concern is almost tangible."

"Am I supposed to extract a rational meaning from that?"

Fili shrugged his shoulders in a dull motion. "Brother, for the past 77 years you and I have been sharing a room and you've always slept like a log. Now, she is going away for an hour and you're wobbling around like a bird trapped in a cage. Stop worrying so much, she will come back" he whispered drowsily

Kili rolled his eyes in annoyance and made a mocking grimace. "You are insufferable" he grunted.

"Maybe" the blonde dwarf said with a yawn and turned his back to him. "But I still am smarter than you."

Despite his nervousness, Kili silently laughed to himself and gave Fili a playful shove in his middle. Truly, he couldn't have asked for a better big brother. He thought that this brief light-hearted moment would calm him to some degree, but when he closed his eyes, the same picture popped back into his mind.

The Ranger was unable to find another safer place and she decided to return, resign seamed all over her face. Bofur was startled at first when a hooded figure entered the cave, but relaxed as soon as he realized it was her. She was much tensed and quite angry from the confrontation with Thorin, as well as frustrated by her unsuccessful attempt to find a better shelter for them. So, she offered to keep company to Bofur until sleep would come to her, if it would at all.

She placed herself on his opposite, next to the entrance, taking her cloak and bodice off, and laid down. "What did you do before the quest?" she asked, keeping her voice very low to avoid wake someone up.

"Ah," Bofur said and flashed her a bright smile. "I'm a toymaker, my Lady. One of the best, if I may add" he continued shyly, but there was a hint of pride in his tone.

"It suits you" she smirked. He was always in an optimistic mood and she liked him very much for that very fact.

"My cousin and I were crafting mechanical toys. Very famous in the market of Dale they were."

"My little brother adored those toys. Once, my mother had bought him one. It was a small pony with a rider on top of it. I remember him carrying it everywhere with him" she laughed under her breath, good memories flooding her mind, but after a few moments her laughter faded. "He was holding it even when he was killed" she said with a shudder.

The dwarf brooded about the young woman's past. She had lived through bad situations in her life and she was not supposed to. He gave her a sympathetic smile and watched the sleeping figure of someone, who was laid down next to her, unconsciously shift closer and sprawl his head on her stomach.

Arya suspiciously looked down at Kili, who was now sleeping on her, wondering if this was a threatening move. He had perplexed her with his relieved reaction when she was not injured before. Apart from the obvious loathing he harbored for her -as he had pointed out himself-, she had no doubt that there were moments he simply wanted to throw her into the nearest river and let the water do all the rest. However, a frown was now spread on his face and his heart was almost pounding, probably he was seeing something in his sleep. She was all too familiar with nightmares and momentarily took pity on him, still not moving him away. She was too tired to do so, or it was what she tried to impose on herself to believe. She brushed some of his hair wisps out of the way and then her hand inadvertently went to rest on his chest, almost weightless. His hand came to rest on top, pressing hers over his heart and she felt his heartbeat return to normal under her touch. Would it be that bad to just let him sleep where he was and not disturb him? It would be only for a night after all and no one would pay mind to it in the morning.

"The lad likes you, you know" Bofur whispered, smirking at the two of them.

A titter evaded her mouth at the dwarf's outrageous comment and she made a dismissive sound. "I seriously doubt so. It is just that I'm probably warmer than the cold ground and he wants a soft pillow." She was unbelievably tempted to wake Kili up, so as he could reassure Bofur himself about the validity of her words, but eventually decided against it.

Bofur was about to inform her that she had used Kili as a pillow already a couple of times, but saw her eyes slowly close and thought it better to let her rest.

* * *

Kili, still in a slumber, felt his head lying against something rather smooth and warm than the cold, stony ground he had fallen asleep on. He partially opened his eyes, facing a small, familiar hand entwined with his own on his chest and with a small sigh of relief, realized Arya had finally returned. But still, the entwined hands... "_Where did that come from?_" he thought. This was a new and a pretty disturbing one of that. Aside from the hands, it was also a little alarming that he was actually laying on her and wondered how he had ended up there without her kicking him away.

The part that mostly alarmed him, though, was that his cheek was squishing something. Something soft and round. A wild blush covered his face and he shrunk back in fear and fright, as he realized what was that he squished. He sharply removed his head from that part of her body, slightly lifting it to face her. He thanked all the gods he knew, for her eyes were still shut. If she had been awake and found him hovering over that area, he definitely didn't wish to know the way she would choose to kill him, but he was sure it would be a very torturing one.

Arya, on the other hand, was not at all sleeping as he thought. Instead, she felt him stirring restlessly on her torso, inadvertently dabbing places he shouldn't. "Unless you plan to stop bouncing your head on me, move your arse away" she whispered with eyes still closed, trying to sound strict.

Kili froze at the sound of her voice, thinking that he eventually managed to wake her and internally producing a wide variety of curses. However, for a preposterous reason that originated from the deepest places of his subconscious, he did not move -as she most kindly pointed out- his arse away. He felt far too comfortable in his current position to move. Thus they stayed like they were before, only this time his face was in a secure distance from touching forbidden places again. He thought that a breathless giggle vibrated him, elicited from her, and he briefly smirked, before falling asleep again.

Bofur was dawdling around the cave and missed the whole scene between the two. When he eventually returned back to his spot next to the entrance, a small, shuffling noise came from the back of the cave. The Ranger's eyes gingerly popped open and cast a wary glance at the dwarf on watch, who paid it back, both wondering for the source of the noise. They saw the hobbit in a hurry, packing his stuff as quietly as he could.

* * *

Bilbo prepared his things and was ready to leave. He slowly walked to the cave's entrance, careful not to wake anyone, only to find Bofur and the Ranger staring at him inquiringly.

"Where do you think you're going?"

The hobbit was hesitant. "Back to Rivendell."

"Bilbo, don't leave." It held a far more pleading tone than the one she was aiming for, but she didn't seem to care much.

"You can't go back now. You are part of the company. You're part of us" Bofur said eagerly.

"I'm not though, am I?" he asked bitterly. "Thorin said I should never have come and he was right. I'm not a Took, I'm a Baggins; I don't know what I was thinking."

Arya was seriously considering the moment perfect to walk over Thorin and smack the back of his fat head. A high and mighty smack for the high and mighty King under the Mountain. It sounded exquisitely fitting. If he had kept his mouth shut or, even better, never thought of actually saying what he told Bilbo outside the cave, none of this would be happening right now. "Please, stay. Thorin said what he said in his temper, those were words spoken in ire and nothing more."

"I understand why you want to leave. You are homesick" Bofur whispered.

"No you don't. None of you do. You are dwarves. You are used to never settling in one place, not belonging anywhere!" the hobbit snapped in a low voice, but immediately regretted his words and awkwardly cleared his throat. "I am sorry, I didn't-"

"No you're right. We don't belong anywhere." A whisper left Bofur's lips, as he turned around to look at his comrades. "I wish you all the luck in the world. I really do" he continued with a smile.

The hobbit turned to bid goodbye to the Ranger. "I am truly sorry, my Lady. But I don't think the wild is a place for someone like me." He somehow felt like he had disappointed her, because of the fact that she believed in him; believed that he would follow through the quest.

"I honestly think you are wrong. But you are free if you wish to leave" she said softly and smiled at him, as he was ready to walk out of the cave, but a light caught her eye. "Wait- "

Bofur had noticed it too. "What is that?" he asked, pointing to the hobbit's waist.

Bilbo looked down his middle, where his sword was glowing blue. Fright and panic took him over and a wide-eyed Arya anxiously shook Kili's shoulder to rise him from his slumber. The prince locked eyes with her, still caught somewhere between sleep and reality, and was disappointed to be woken from the very nice dream he was seeing. For the briefest of moments he cracked a half smile, trying to remember what the nice dream was about, but then he saw her horrified expression and her eyes avert from his own.

Arya's eyes hastily searched the cave to find the King, who was doubtfully sleeping, and she sent him a warning glare as if she meant 'I told you'.

Thorin quickly spotted her intense gaze, internally wishing that this was just a bad dream. He was somewhat more than tired and did not want her to rub the mistake he made to his face. In no time, the sand that covered the floor disappeared into large cracks and the supposed dream turned into a real nightmare. "Wake up. Wake up!" his booming voice startled everyone that was asleep.

The ground was cleaved and soon they found themselves freefalling into deep, dark tunnels beneath the mountain, bouncing from one side of the stone walls to the other.


	11. Chapter 10

**Thank you for the follows, favorites, reviews and please leave more, you really, really make my day! No offence NESSAANCALIME6913, but I did not actually get the meaning of yours, I just hope it is a good one!**

**I went to see Iron Man 3 (which was awesome) and got a bit influenced, so we are rockin' in this chapter, people. Title from '****Highway to Hell' by AC/DC.**

* * *

_Going down, party time, my friends are gonna be there too_**  
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* * *

They rolled in a mess of screams and grunts through large tunnels, eventually landing in a round cage, one on top of the other; like the bruises and hits from the rocks during the thunder battle a few hours ago were not enough. Luckily, Arya fell on top of everyone next to Bilbo, and was not crashed under the others. Unluckily, she was the first that was grabbed by a pair of extremely disgusting hands.

"Look out!" someone yelled, pointing to a group of goblins coming right at them.

"Take your bloody hands off me" Arya roared, stabbing some of the creatures that held her with a knife.

Three goblins grabbed her arms, threw the knife away and slapped her on the face. "Master will be pleased with her" one said, trailing his finger over the redden mark on her cheek.

"Don't touch her!" a growl came from Fili, while an incomprehensible grunt came from her.

The goblins shoved and kicked them over small, ramshackle bridges, to lead them in front of their king. They clustered them tightly in a stranglehold, took their weapons and collected them in a great pile.

The Ranger was standing next to Thorin, glaring in revolt at all the goblins that had gathered to watch the new delivery in their territory. Kili had a blind grip of her wrist, in order to not let anyone take her away. He felt her clenching and unclenching her fist, the bones of her hand budging vigorously, ready to break the grip, spurt forward, grab her sword and slice everyone.

She didn't realize that he was holding her. Her mind was already molding plans to find a way to escape, when her attention was drawn and she paid a studying glance at the goblin king. She had never seen a more hideous creature in her life. His oozy dewlap, directly proportional to the revolt stemming from her nightmares, was idly dangling and wiggling around like a bag full of jelly. The thoughts in her mind, caused by the disturbingly macabre sight, were dismissed as he was about to talk.

"Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves? Assassins? " he sputtered.

"Dwarves, Your Malevolence."

"Dwarves?" the king asked suspiciously. "Well don't just stand there. Search them. Every crack, every crevice" he ordered.

The dwarves' snarls could be mistaken for those of wargs when the goblins began searching them. The look on Arya's face was that of ice and she could feel her nerves getting jittery as she tried to repel the creatures away. Kili thought that his brother's likeness towards her was rubbing off on him, but he couldn't deny that he was incensed that they were practically groping her in places she shouldn't be touched and delivered jabs to whoever touched even the smallest part of her body.

"There is a female between them. Human she is" a creature said.

The goblin king's face lit up, his eyes filled with a beaming gleam. "A female you say? Bring her to me."

His subjects rushed to where she stood to haul her forward. She tried to resist, shoving away any creature that dared touch her, with the dwarves also trying to pull her back.

"Take your filthy hands off her" Kili grunted, elbowing every goblin that got in his way.

But the creatures outnumbered them and eventually snatched her up from the dwarves' grip. They slammed her on the floor with a loud thud, constantly kicking her to roll in front of their master's feet.

The king clutched his grisly hand around her and lifted her in the air. "What are you doing in these parts?" he asked, but no answer came. "You should better tell me, before I start making her suffer" he warned the dwarves, gradually tightening his grip around her.

Neither she, nor the dwarves answered.

"Speak!" he ordered harshly, but again no one answered. "Very well. If they won't talk, we'll make them squawk" he yelled and all his subjects erupted in cheers. "Start with her!"

The Ranger turned her head to look at the dwarves and nodded towards Thorin. "_Not a word_" she mouthed silently. He discreetly nodded back, but even he was quite upset over the fact that she was going to be tortured to give information. Looks of despair had spread on the dwarves' faces, all thinking what were the king's cruel intentions.

The king was browsing his new trophy. "Now, this is a pretty one" he remarked with a perverse look. "What shall we do?" he addressed his subjects. "Perhaps we shall carve a pattern on her?" he postulated and the goblins cheered in excitement.

Kili felt his frothing rage trying to find an exit from his gut and flung forward to attack him, watching him squeeze her tighter. It needed both Thorin's hands and few of the goblins to stop him.

The king grabbed her sword from the collected pile and stood menacingly above her. All the dwarves cried out in protest when the goblins held her hands and legs, drawing the sleeves and the lower part of her tunic up. They pulled, each one towards his place, causing her lean figure to stretch remarkably at all directions. He dragged her own blade excruciatingly slow across her, now partly exposed, arms and torso, creating scratches at some points and rather large wounds at others.

Her face was expressionless. Every hint of emotion was well concealed under a façade of gritty, resolute apathy. Only her clenched fists and gritted teeth showed that she could possibly be in pain, in case she was not just angry. But, it was true; she was overwhelmed by a burning pain every time he found a new spot to leave a scar or a deep cut on. However, she was thankful that he had used her weapon and not one of their own. They usually dabbed their blades in poison like orcs did.

"Speak!" the king commanded with a growl.

She spat his already ludicrous face in disgust.

For an unknown reason, Thorin felt momentarily proud of her spunky attitude. He wondered if he knew any women that would endure the slow torture she was submitted to, without uttering even a growl or get willing to spill out everything. It was a rare feeling he got, like every time his nephews did something praiseworthy, even though he didn't show it but only with a nod. His thoughts came to a halt when the goblin king leaned dangerously close above her.

"Speak, before I'll have this blade take your dainty neck" he dictated and his crowd erupted in encouraging yells to cut her head.

Again, not even a breath eluded from her pursed lips.

The king took a hard grip of the knife and threateningly scraped her skin. Thorin had to use help from Bifur and Bofur to hold Kili back from rushing into the foul creature, as Dwalin and Oin did the same for Fili. It was no use to let them attack, since they had no weapons on them and would probably end up dead, along with her. But every dwarf felt his heart clenching at the sight of the goblin ready to take her head and life.

She shot the goblin a frowned look, having no intention to die in his hands. She had escaped orcs back when her family was killed and would repeat her actions. She did not know how they would be outnumbered, but would find a way to escape again. There was a cousin, a company of dwarves and a hobbit, apart from other people, that it was her duty to protect. This was not the most convenient of times to afford dying.

"Very well then" the king said with a twisted smile. "A final chance. Any last words?"

"Could you _be_ more ugly?" she grumbled through gritted teeth.

The king's previous twisted smile gave its place to a scowl.

"Wait!" Thorin roared and strutted forward.

The king ceased the blade just an inch above her neck and motioned the goblins to drop the woman. They immediately obeyed, letting her fall on the ground heavily. Thorin helped her up and she made to stomp back, when the goblins' hands grabbed a fistful of her hair, sending her on the ground and kicking her back to the dwarves.

The Ranger managed to snatch up some of the goblins' necks to pull them down with her and punch them until their ugly mugs turned even uglier, but more kept coming and pushed her down. She was almost crawling, feeling her marred body giving up under the weight of all the goblins above her, when a pair of strong arms dragged her out of the stifling pressure, forcing the disgusting creatures away from her. She stood up, spitting and wiping the blood from some of her wounds in the process, glancing at the person that had his hands on her arms now.

Kili was rigorously scanning her body, gradually losing the number of cuts and scratches that marred it. He pulled her behind his back and took a hold of her hand again, shuddering in anger for what they did to her. All the dwarves sent her looks of gratefulness and empathy for not revealing something about their quest and what she had just undergone.

Fili walked beside them and tapped her lightly on the shoulder. "Are you alright?" he asked full of worry, also examining her wounds. She gave him a small nod and he grasped her arm tightly, pulling her closer, ready to protect her if needed. They all watched Thorin stand in front of the goblin king with an abhorrent look.

"Well, well, well, look who it is. Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror, King under the Mountain" the goblin exclaimed and gave him a mocking bow. "Oh, but I'm forgetting. You don't have a mountain and you're not a king... which makes you nobody, really. I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head" he continued with a snide smirk on his face. "Just your head, with nothing attached. Perhaps you know of whom I speak. An old enemy of yours; a pale orc, astride a white warg."

Thorin's look was the definition of loathing. "Azog the Defiler was slain in battle long ago" he grunted.

"So you think his defiling days are done, do you?" the king scoffed with a chuckle. He then ordered to a small goblin to send word to Azog that he had found his prize and commanded the goblins to start singing.

Arya wondered what was worse, with her opinion divided between being trapped, forced to hear the goblins' appallingly gruesome singing, or the fact that Azog would unleash an attack against them.

One of the creatures was running through the pile of the weapons and found Thorin's sword, Orcrist. A loud scream left his mouth, prompting his master to stop singing and glance over him.

"I know that sword, it is the Goblin-Cleaver! The blade that sliced a thousand necks!" the king yelled and shrank back in fear. "Slash them! Kill them all!"

Mayhem and chaos were little to describe what ensued. All the goblins lunged at them, whipping and beating them to the ground. The Ranger was trying to repel all the creatures that were around her, kicking away as many as she could. Every goblin smacking one of the dwarves, she kicked or punched it away. She saw them whip violently someone and her wrath burst, feeling her body burn from the inside out, when she noticed the distinctive, blue tunic. She darted forward and grabbed each goblin that stood in her way, strangling it with her own hands so viciously, that someone would think they were made out of thin air.

Kili was trampled on the ground when he saw her make her way towards him, but at some point stumble and fall down, with a group of goblins rushing to whip her. He shoved all those who were above him, crept to her place and leaned his weight over her, in order to shield her fragile figure. He paid no mind to the fact that his back was torn to shreds, because his clothes were obviously thicker than the tenuous cloth of hers. The only thing he felt was the front of his tunic getting drenched from the blood that poured out from the wounds on her back.

Arya felt a weight on her back, as she got enmeshed in someone's embrace, and the pain from the whips ceased. It returned with greater force though, when a brief second later his groans pierced her ears and she felt his body twinging against hers, as he used himself to shield her. "_It's me that is supposed to protect you, not you me!_" she thought. "You fool!" she tried to yell, struggling to roll back and shield him instead, but only managed to have him push her harder on the ground.

Suddenly, everything stopped. A dazzling light filled the inside of the mountain, accompanied by a force that brought everyone on the ground. She looked up and saw Gandalf's figure in the source of the great force, walking to their place. "Take up arms. Fight!" he yelled.

The dark haired dwarf moved off her and she crawled next to the pile of weapons to put her daggers in their sheaths and take her sword in hand. Kili supported his weight on his knees, taking a glimpse of her tying her weapons on, relieved that she still had even the ability to move, let alone walk. Everyone was trying to help whoever was standing near them to get up. In a rioting uproar the dwarves grabbed the weapons and began to pass them to their respective owners.

The goblin king gazed over Gandalf and noticed his sword, again shrinking back in fright. "He wields the Foehammer! The Beater!" he yelled.

A stout goblin, along with two others, gripped Arya and pushed her on the ground, whipping her repeatedly on her back.

Kili was thrown his sword from his brother when he heard her shrieks. His eyes went wide with shock when he saw the goblins thrash her on the ground, and her writhe and twitch violently in pain. The part of the tunic that covered her back was now ripped off and large scars were formed under it, while the cloth had turned into a vivid scarlet from the blood stains. The rage rising in his chest found its way out and finally erupt, and he rushed against the goblins, avidly parceling them in pieces with a phenomenal vengeance.

Fili saw her being trampled on the ground and his brother fight three goblins above her, and ran to their aid. He grabbed her waist, sprawled her over his shoulder and followed Gandalf, who was yelling and urging them to run. He needed not be told twice to do so. Thorin was now slicing a part of the goblin king's arm, sending him down the bridge in the deepest caves, and the rest were putting a valiant fight to get away.

It all happened too fast and she didn't realize she was being carried on someone's back. She opened her eyes and faced a mane of blonde hair. "Fili put me down, so we can both fight" she ordered.

He hesitated, but eventually took her off his shoulder. He wasn't sure if she was well enough, still feeling the warmth of her blood that poured on his hands, but it would be obviously profitable if they both could fight. They were hearing the growls of the goblins that followed them through the infinite bridges coming closer and closer by the second.

They were divided into groups that ran in two different bridges, each one of them fighting the number of goblins he could handle. Arya searched for the two brothers and found Fili marching behind Dwalin, sending some creatures off the bridge. Fear flushed in her when she did not find his brother. That fear was nothing compared to when she saw him alone in the front of the line and a group of goblins opposite him, shooting arrows. He managed to repel them with his sword, but one was coming directly to his torso. He wouldn't have enough time to avoid this. She didn't fiddle more and immediately hurtled, enfolding her arms around his waist and crossing her daggers in his front.

The arrow hit straight on them and he slightly turned his head to see his mysterious savior. He had a pretty good idea who might that be, judging by the delicate, bloodied fingers around the daggers. "You are- "

"Yeah, yeah, reckless and irresponsible, I know. Can we fight later about it?" she huffed with an impatient nod.

Kili felt her removing her hands from their previous position. "_You are unbelievable_" he thought, shaking his head in incredulity, and grabbed a ladder next to him. She briefly turned her head, catching his plan in seconds, put the daggers back to their sheaths and wielded her sword with one hand. She braced the ladder with the other, standing at Kili's right side. Her blade was slicing the goblins' heads stuck between the steps, as they pushed the ladder forward.

They reunited with the rest of the company that were on the other bridge, everyone swinging their swords or axes around, and goblin heads and limbs seemed to fly at every direction. At some point, they found themselves flying on a moving bridge, trying to jump to the other end, at the steady part of it. Fili and Arya were the last to jump and she was thankful that Dwalin was waiting to pull them forward, because the wooden boards started to collapse below them.

"Come on!" Gandalf urged them, wresting a huge rock with his staff.

"Push!" Dwalin grunted.

The rock rolled in front of them, smashing and plastering the goblins on their way. It bought them some time to escape into another bridge, only to be ambushed by other goblins that crept up through small caves around the mountain. They came to an abrupt halt when the goblin king sprouted in front of them, casting pieces of the wooden boards everywhere.

Arya was on guard for the back of their group, scanning the number of goblins surrounding them. Dwalin, Thorin and Kili were next to her, all three's swords and axes in vigilance.

"They are too many" Kili mumbled, grabbing her arm to push her behind him in case the goblins attacked. For goodness sake, this woman made him fear for the worst that could happen to her.

She swung her sword in her hands, shooting edgy looks to the creatures. "Have a little faith" she mumbled back, eyes dark with lethal intentions hidden behind them.

"You thought you would escape me" the king yelled, battering his animal skull mace in front of Gandalf. "What are you going to do now, wizard?"

Gandalf poked the king's eye with his wand and the great goblin groaned in pain, before having his exceeding paunch sliced.

"That'll do it" the king declared and let Gandalf give the finishing touch of his death, as he cut his disgusting neck.

Arya felt the doubtfully steady ground under her feet to start reeling. "Hold on to something" she warned and did so herself. She kneeled down and grabbed tightly the edge of the wooden board beneath her feet.

The king fell dead and the bridge collapsed, crashing on lower scaffolds. Their falling was intercepted by the constantly constricting sides of the mountain, but the bridge eventually smashed on the bottom. All smithereens of the once called bridge fell upon their heads, weighing them down, and the dwarves grunted in pain. Gandalf was the first to rise from the debris, dusting his cloak of the pieces of woods.

"Well that could have been worse" Bofur's voice, optimistic as usual, emerged through the ruins.

All the dwarves grunted louder as the bridge shattered in pieces with them under it, when the dead goblin king landed on top of it. Arya had landed under Dwalin, groaning in pain at her marred back pressing against the broken wood pieces. She wondered how she could still be alive and had not suffocated under all this weight.

"You've got to be joking" Dwalin grunted.

A muffled whisper came under his head "Get... off... me." The stout dwarf turned his head to see the Ranger crushed under his back. He quickly lifted his weight from her and stood up, removing the boards that pressed her down.

Kili was a few feet away and struggled to step away from the pile of wood, trying to regain consciousness of his surroundings. He lifted his gaze up and saw the whole goblin town march towards them. "Gandalf!" he yelled in panic.

"We can't fight them, they are too many!" Dwalin panted, as he pulled a doubtfully conscious Nori with him.

"Only one thing will save us, daylight. Come on, move!" the wizard urged them.

Everyone was covered in bruises and large scratches but needed not to be told twice, their feet flying to quickly find an exit. Kili pulled his brother out of the wreckage, all the while searching for Arya. He turned around and saw her laid with her back against the ground, grimacing in pain, and with some help from his brother, they pulled her out of the ruins.

The pain in her back was off the limits. It felt like someone was slowly carving lines with a heated blade. She heard the voices of the goblin army behind them, as a hand caught hers and pulled her along through a large tunnel. Her vision became blurry, causing her to stumble multiple times on the way out.

Kili had once told his brother that he hated her. There was no time to hate her now. Or perhaps he didn't want to hate her anymore. He felt her clasp loosening and turned to check on her, not surprised at all to see her feet giving up under the weight of her own body, considering how much blood she had lost and was currently losing. His arm enfolded her waist to support her body into a standing position. He was almost dragging her with him, as he felt the blood that seeped from her back gushing on his hand. "Come on, stay with me" he almost pleaded.

His voice brought her back into consciousness. "You don't even care if I never open my eyes again" she mumbled drowsily.

He let a small gasp of relief when he heard her snarky retort. Perhaps the time and place were not right for one of those, but he was at any rate glad to hear it and made him smile. "Of course I do."

"Why?"

He supported more of her weight in his arms, seeing her limping. "Because then I would have to start talking to people who actually like me."

Through the haze of giddiness that surrounded her, she managed to sneer at him, "And I'm sure there are plenty of those."

"That's exactly what I'm talking about. Who needs fondness when I have blind hatred?" he bantered, as a smug grin spread from ear to ear across his face.

Arya rolled her eyes exasperatedly, yet somehow amused at their small talk. It might sound weird, but he had briefly made her feel much better than she actually was.

"Come now, we must run" he urged.

She drew herself together and her feet reflexively began to move on their own accord under his command, as they followed the others.

* * *

Finally, they found the way out and walked into the mountainside, under broad daylight. They were jumping over rocks, hurriedly jogging and panting, to put as much distance as they could between the goblins and themselves. They came to a stop while Gandalf was counting them.

Kili sat Arya on a rock, very cautious not to touch the scars on her back, which was difficult as they were spread all over it. It was a leniently ghastly sight, with all those wide, diagonal whipping marks.

Thorin took a glimpse of her, ripped and soaked in blood, tunic and walked closer. "Do you feel well?"

She glanced up at the dwarf King, seeing him more messy and disheveled than ever. The cuts and scratches on him, though, were nothing compared to hers. "If I meet again with the goblins that did this to my back, I will shove a sword right up their fat, ugly arses" she growled gloomily.

All the dwarves smiled, relieved that she was back in her old, warlike spirits.

"I suppose this answers your question" a grinning Fili addressed Thorin.

Thorin nodded, slightly amused by her choice of words, and turned his back to them to check the rest of the company. Kili ripped a relatively clean piece of cloth from his clothes and gently started cleaning the blood from her wounds.

"Nîdh" she hissed, trying to stay still, but twitching at the friction between her skin and the cloth was unavoidable.

Fili scooted closer to them, lightly tapping her shoulders, and scolded her, "My brother is right for calling you an idiot sometimes."

"Thank you" Kili exclaimed from behind, like he had just found his right in this unfair world.

The blonde received a stern glare from her as he continued chastising her. "You didn't have to undergo this," he pointed to her body, "to supposedly protect us."

"Both of you stop talking, before I start reeling off curses in elvish that you could search their meaning for the rest of your life and find no answer" Arya warned, eliciting a loud chuckle from the blonde dwarf with his brother's in tow.

"Where's Bilbo? Where is our hobbit?" Gandalf suddenly yelled.

"I thought he was with Dori."

"Don't blame me!" Dori pretested.

"Where did you see him for the last time?" the wizard asked.

"I think I saw him slip away when they first collared us" Nori said.

"What happened exactly? Tell me!"

"I'll tell you what happened. Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it. He has thought of nothing but his soft bed and warm hearth since he stepped out of his door. We will not be seeing our hobbit again. He is long gone" Thorin growled.

The Ranger shrugged in frustration. Not about the hobbit, but at Thorin's tendency to burden his misfortunes to others. She knew that Bilbo was near, because she had heard the shuffling behind a tree, although no one seemed to be there. But her instinct had never disappointed her so far. It wasn't something with a bad aura emanating from the spot. Instead, she sensed something good and she was sure that it was him. "How can you even dare accuse him of wanting to return home, when all you want is to return to yours?" she protested. "And you should utter your thoughts and allegations after you take a quick scan of those who surround you. Bilbo is here."

Thorin took a few menacing steps towards her. "I don't see him anywhere" he grunted stubbornly.

"In fact I am" Bilbo's voice emerged behind them.

Everyone gasped and she smiled.

"Bilbo Baggins, I have never been so glad to see anyone in my life" Gandalf exclaimed in relief.

"Bilbo, we'd given you up!"

"How on earth did you get past the goblins?"

Kili and Fili asked respectively. Bilbo though, avoided answering and shoved something into his pocket. Both Gandalf and the Ranger noticed that, in contrast to the others. She felt her stomach twinging, even at the smallest glimpse of what Bilbo held. It was disturbing, how weak the unknown object made her feel, or what fears and feelings had woke inside her.

"It doesn't matter. He is back" Gandalf said, trying to avert the conversation, sharing a look of awareness with her.

"He would never leave" she piped up.

"It matters. I want to know" Thorin insisted. "Why did you come back?"

The hobbit let a small sight. "Look, I know you've always doubted me. And you're right, I often think of Bag-End. I miss my books, my armchair, my garden. That's where I belong. That is my home. And I came back, because you don't have one... and I want to help you take it back if I can."

Bilbo's speech was designed to yield even the coldest heart. A kind smile was etched on all the dwarves' faces. Even Thorin seemed regretful of his previous words and awkward silence was wafting in the atmosphere around them.

Arya was smiling all this time at the kindness of their little fellow, though not forgetting the mysterious object he had in possession. She made a mental note to recall it later for further thinking, when her ears caught a distant sound. But this was no good sound.

Kili felt the muscles on her back stiffening against his hand and glanced at her warily. A weird look was spread on her face, a mix of fear and anger and she startled him when she yelled, "Run! Quickly!"

All peered curiously at the Ranger, wondering if she was going into shock, before the howling and the growls reached their own ears too.

* * *

**Nîdh = Ouch**


	12. Chapter 11

**You guys are awesome and your reviews are so nice, that I think I wanna cry out of happiness! And a great thanks to those who favorite or follow, as well. Please keep reviewing, it really means a lot!**

**Title ****from 'The howling' by Within Temptation.**

* * *

_I hear them getting closer, their howls are sending chills down my spine, and time is running out now, they're coming down the hills from behind_

* * *

Howling and growls filled the air, sowing fear in everyone's gut.

"Out of the frying pan..." Thorin mumbled.

"And into the fire" Gandalf finished the dwarf's sentence.

"Run!" the Ranger shouted, grabbing Kili's hand. Now it was her turn to drag him along.

They needed nothing more and immediately hurtled into a hasty pace, to put as much distance as possible between the howling and themselves. The ground made running difficult, as it was slippery and rather large stones were laid here and there, ready to welcome any foot that could stumble on them. Unfortunately, the wargs had four legs, instead of the pair of two that each one of them possessed, fact that made the result quite bleak. Some of the company were still in such a distance, that they inevitably would come face to face with the beasts.

Arya shot a quick glance at everyone, always staying at the rear of the group to ensure that everyone was safe. What worried her was the fact that Bilbo was still far behind and a warg was after him. "Bilbo, your sword!" she shouted at him to hear.

The warg jumped over his head, slightly slipping on the ground and growled. The small hobbit shrunk back in fear, his steps paused by the trunk of a tree. He heard the Ranger's holler and reflexively his hands took his sword out. The warg took a few menacing steps and bolted forward to him, only to have his blade spiked into the head, between its eyes.

Everyone's axes or swords were rammed down the wargs' necks and heads, and creepy growls were heard as the beasts found death. But they were outnumbered; the more they killed, the more were coming. And for once more, it seemed that luck was not at their side, as the end of a cliff was lying before them.

"Up into the trees, all of you!" Gandalf yelled.

The moment Kili felt her hand slipping away from his, panic took him over. He turned around to see her running to the back, urging the last of those who had stayed behind to climb on the huge pines.

Arya saw him cease his pace to turn and look at her. "Move!" she barked at him.

He hesitated, but a deeper instinct advised him to defy neither the look on her face, nor the tone of her voice. He grabbed a large branch, swirling around it to climb on the tree, and immediately clasped his brother's hand to pull him up.

Thorin had stayed last on the ground along with her, watching in relief all the dwarves shinning to the trees. "They're coming!" he warned her.

Arya grabbed the first branch on her way and climbed up too, continuing her way over to the trees the others were by stepping on different boughs. That was when she realized she had counted thirteen dwarves and a wizard nested above her only. "Bilbo" she mumbled in fear. Her gaze searched for him, until it landed to the spot she had last seen him.

He was frozen against the large trunk, staring in surprise and disbelief at what he had just done.

"Bilbo!" a hiss came from her mouth.

He jumped in surprise at the source of the voice, searching around for the dwarves, but he did not find them anywhere in his sight.

"Up here! Climb quickly, come on!" she exhorted.

The hobbit made to run over her place, but the sword spiked on the warg in front of him made him stop. He struggled to take it out, as it had either stuck in the beast's head, or he did not put the appropriate amount of strength. The sword finally came out and he let a gasp, but his relief didn't hold for long. It was replaced by fright as he heard the growls almost right behind him, and rushed to the trees the others had climbed.

Kili thought his heart had stopped beating when he saw her roll over the tree she was on. He thought she would fall on the ground, but watched in awe her legs wrap around a thick branch and her hanging upside down from it with arms stretched, ready to grab the hobbit and pull him up.

The upturned, almost floating, figure of the Ranger clasped Bilbo's hands and tossed him in the air to the tree next to them. He clutched a branch and climbed up just in time, as the wargs wildly started scraping the trunk with their big, sharp nails. She climbed higher, jumping to the tree that Thorin and Balin were, all the while glancing over the others to see if they were safe. She caught Kili's eyes more than once looking directly into hers, sending waves of relief through her that both he and his brother were fine. They all watched the wargs search around for them in vain, when her ears caught a growl she hadn't heard since long time ago.

Her reaction the moment confronted the large, muscular warg with the white fur could be considered a paradox. The sight made her blood run cold, but her entire body felt like it was on fire. Her gaze lifted inches higher to its rider. Years had passed since the last time she had faced those unrealistic blue eyes filled with evil. Every time he came to her sleep, she was sure she couldn't hate someone as much as him.

The murderer of her family was standing opposite her.

Arya thought that the nightmares were the worst, but they were nothing compared to what she felt now. Every time she fell asleep, it was like reliving it. Hearing screams and feeling all this pain. But reliving it didn't even begin to describe the present state.

* * *

_The minute they arrived to the village, they went straight home, flushed in panic. Caladhiel was startled to see them so suddenly in front of her. She expected them to visit a long time later and immediately sensed that something dreadful had occurred. __Aranion simply shot her a grim look and her suspicions were confirmed._

_"You must go to Rivendell at once. __They are coming for us.__"_

_She felt her heart clenching at his words. She had no intention to leave him behind. "We must all go to Rivendell."_

_Their older children were in search of their little brother. _"_Aradan!" Aranethon yelled._

_Arya's eyes scanned the entire house hastily, trying to find him. "Come, honeg, we have to leave!" _

_The boy peered out of his room. He might be of relatively young age, but he was smart enough to sense that something dark had fallen upon them._

"_There you are" his sister breathed out in relief and hugged him._

_"__We must not linger" their older brother exclaimed impatiently._

_"__What's wrong? Why are you here?" Aradan asked, a vague feeling overwhelming him as he noticed his siblings' similar concerned looks, and reflexively squeezed something in his hand. It was a toy his mother had bought him many years ago. He knew he was old enough to play or even carry it with him, but it had ended up as his lucky trinket and he enclosed it in his pocket carefully._

_She knelt in front of him, placing her hands on his shoulders. "We are returning to naneth's kin in Rivendell."_

_"__Why?"_

_She never had the chance to answer his question and tried to hide the dread and fright that burst like a storm behind her eyes, as the screams and cries from outside reached their ears._

_"__Arya, hurry" Aranethon yelled. "They're here!"_

_She turned to face her little brother again, grabbing his hands tightly. "Do you remember the knife Aranethon gave you?" He nodded and she continued. "Have it at the ready. There are some creatures that will try to hurt us." She saw him nod to her again, a vast amount of questions floating behind his blue eyes. "I will not let anyone hurt you" she whispered in a trembling voice and kissed the top of his head._

_Aradan pulled the knife out of its sheath and their mother hurriedly entered the room, holding her own sword._

_"You two are leaving with me" their mother ordered, as she made her way to the barn with the two of them in tow._

_"No! They are too many for father and Aranethon alone!" Arya protested wide-eyed. "Take the bow and ride hard. Don't look back" she warned and burst out of the room. _

_Her mother knew better than to try and reason with her. She didn't stop her, certain that her efforts would be futile. Instead, she grabbed her son's hand and pulled him beside her, as she was saddling the horse. Aradan was wielding his knife, constantly glancing over the wooden door, not so much aware of what or whom they expected to face. He only knew that it was something bad. He had never seen orcs in his life, only heard stories about them and their terrible feats._

_Arya followed her father and brother, not even daring to think about the outcome for the three of them. They had no time to escape, even on horseback. But if that meant the others would be safe and alive, she was willing to accept any fate that was decided for her._

_"__Go with your mother and brother, now!" her father ordered._

_Her look darkened. "We have to buy them time to try and escape, ada. And three is better than two."_

_Aranion shook his head in frustration at his daughter's stubbornness, as they faced what had remained of the place. The scenery was that of wild fire burning every house down, burned or killed bodies laid everywhere and cries filling the air for seconds before their owners being silenced forever._

_The village was not a big one, so it didn't take more than a few minutes for the orcs to burn it to the ground and kill all the native people. Father, son and daughter were ready to defend their family even with their lives. None of the three expected to see what approached them. The group of orcs had acquired new members, far more than what three Rangers could handle. __They saw the foul creatures come closer to them threateningly. Aranethon and Arya took their bows and started firing arrows at them. A battle erupted, but it was their family so, naturally, luck was not with them. Swords and blades clashed, filling the air with crashing thuds and creepy yells. Aranethon made the mistake to move further into the group of orcs, his mind not clear from the eagerness to extinguish as many of them as possible._

_His father saw him dart to the orcs' leader, the great pale orc. "__Iôn, no!"_

_Arya heard her father's cry. It felt like the knife that stabbed her brother's lower torso was stabbing her at the same time__ as well__. Of course, the knife did not stop her brother's move in the slightest, as he continued lunging at the pale orc. __Now it was her time to let a loud scream, as another two blades were rammed on his back. Tears rolled on her cheeks and her screams came out as hisses, as she saw the pale orc's hook that he used as a hand, ruthlessly piercing her brother's throat. She watched her brother's desecrated, dead body flicking back and falling heavily on the ground and the most vivid red, thick blood gushing out of his throat and mouth. She rushed forward, tearing in pieces every creature in her way in order to reach the pale orc._

_Azog stared at the young woman with a dark look, many thoughts circling around his mind as to what she could be used for, once captured. __She met his gaze for a moment, loathing spilling out of her eyes and death from her sword. She was sure she would never forget those abnormally blue eyes, awash in pure evil. Her intention was to attack him, not caring if she would survive or not, but her mother's scream brought her to her senses._

_Caladhiel was doing her best to protect her son and Aradan was using his knife or his fists as much as he could, trying to repel the disgusting creatures away from himself and his mother. But the orcs were too many for just two persons to defeat them and eventually managed to catch them, before they had the time to escape. __"Nana!" he yelled, __seeing his mother getting caught by the creatures__. Two orcs caught his arms and legs __too, as he went to run to her, __and tied them up._

_"Leave him!" his mother screamed, struggling to get free, and the orcs simply sniggered._

_In the meantime, the battle outside was raging. Aranion saw the dead body of his older son and sorrow filled his already torn apart soul. Parents were supposed to be buried by their children, not vice versa. Although in this case, he highly doubted if there was going to be any burial for any of them, for their death was almost certain._

_He moved his gaze to his daughter, who was mercilessly slicing orcs above her brother's corpse. It was that moment that his wife's screams reached his ears and he saw five orcs carrying her along with his youngest son, both of them tied up. __He didn't know which one to try and save first, his wife and son, or his daughter. He shot a glare over his daughter, who met his eyes and nodded him to help the others. He wavered at first, but seeing she was still intact, moved to the five orcs. __He didn't have enough time to react though when a sharp blade pierced him from behind. The cut wasn't very deep to kill him right that moment, but he would eventually die. He tried to crawl over to his wife and son, but many hands harshly slammed his body on the ground._

_Arya was left all alone to fight all the orcs, and noticed neither her father being hit nor her mother and brother being tied up._

_Azog saw the man hitting the ground and ordered two of his orcs to keep him there. The father was obviously one of Men, he was a Ranger, so one of the Dúnedain. His dead son was one of Men as well, as was probably the captured little boy too. However, the mother was an elf. He did not like elves though, they were too hardy for his taste. __Weird family they were. __It did not happen so often, a union between two races. Nevertheless, the last he cared about was that. They would all die in the end regardless of their race._

_All the family was almost extinguished, except from the young woman, who was still putting up a valiant fight. He noticed that she was of the race of Men too. A wide, evil smile was spread on his face as he stroke the white mane of his warg and ordered it to dart forward, thinking __that now was the time for him to come to the fore. __Muffled screams eluded from her father's mouth, who was still with his face slammed on the hard ground. __The large white warg skimmed over the young woman and its rider's mace hit her, sending her in the air. _

"_No!" the left living members of her family cried in unison. The young boy was almost shuddering to get free from the tight grip to save his sister, but they slapped his face and held him tighter. __His mother's pain was immeasurable, when she confronted the dead body of her older son, her husband stabbed on the back and now her daughter being battered on the ground like a toy. T__he end of her family was rapidly approaching and time could not be reversed._

_Arya landed a few feet away and the pale orc moved over her, to see that she was partly unconscious from the massive force of the hit. "Burn and eat them. Everyone, but her" he ordered in their language, the evil smile still staining his face._

_The orcs tied up Aranion, Caladhiel and Aradan, and gathered the other dead from the village, who were destined to be burned and eaten. They also tied the young, unconscious woman and hung her from a large wooden bar._

_Her parents saw their daughter clumsily hanging from the wooden stick, ready to become the toy of the foul orcs. They had lost their older son and knew that now it was theirs and Aradan's turn. None of the two had the courage to even imagine what they were going to do to Arya and their rage and despair reached their peaks. She was too young to face such torture and treatment, especially from those creatures._

_Their leader walked closer to her and trailed a finger over her face._

_"Get your hands off her, you bastard" Aranion grunted._

_"Don't touch her" Caladhiel warned__ at the same time__._

_Azog walked towards the elf and grabbed a fistful of hair, pulling her head back. "I could do to you what I will do to your daughter, but humans are more fragile and break more easily than elves."_

_"Get away from her!"_

_Azog strayed his gaze from the elf to the source of the voice, surprised to see the small child withstand him. He gave the boy a strong slap and let a grim chuckle._

_Aranion watched his son trying to kick the orc and him moving to strike again. "Don't you dare touch them" he growled, anger boiling inside him like a storm ready to erupt. _

_The pale orc strolled up to the man and grabbed his neck. He let a snarl and the orc tightened his grip even more, draining all the blood from the man's face and making him blanch. "I would keep you alive, only to watch the special treatment your daughter will get, but we've been eating only maggoty bread for five stinking days. I'm not going to deny them the pleasure now that meat is back on the menu" he said, releasing his head with unnecessary force, and __turned his attention back to the unconscious young woman. He let his finger travel from her face down her shoulders, again receiving threats from her parents and brother. He defiantly ignored them this time. "Now, this is a pretty little thing" he exclaimed and all the orcs cheered excitingly._

_Arya opened her eyes to face a repugnant chest, marred with scars all over it, and then lifted her gaze up to a much more abominable face._

_The pale orc had his head turned to his orcs and didn't notice that she had regained consciousness. "We will have some fun" he said, prompting the orcs to cheer in excitement again. He then turned to face her with a taunting look, only to receive a spit directly into his eyes. __A scowl spread on his monstrous face and he let an evil laugh, before slapping her harshly. The woman let a guttural groan. "And a tough one, too!" he mumbled, ripping her cloak off._

_Her groans were more savage than those of wargs even if they came muffled behind her gritted teeth, as the orc was practically groping her, and she managed to give a strong kick on his muscular leg._

_"Stay away from her!" her father roared from behind them, only to have two orcs to press the wound on his back, making him grunt in pain._

_The leader's patience, as much as he could possibly afford, was evaporating. "Kill them" he ordered._

_The orcs immediately obeyed and went to kill the three captives. They started from her parents, both of whom struggled to get free and save their children, but knew that their destiny only involved death._

_Arya was watching her parents ready to be slaughtered and couldn't help but scream and cry. She saw them trying to get free, trying to repel the orcs away from them, to save at least Aradan and her. __She, herself, was struggling to get free from the chains, kill every orc that was in her way and save what was left from her family. __But nothing of this would happen__. __One final scream pierced the air and she saw the, covered in blood, bodies of her parents lying on the ground motionless._

_"Ada!" A piercing yell left her lips and the whole wooden bar she was hanging from, shuddered from the severity of her voice. "Nana!"_

_"Put them over the fire" the pale orc commanded again. He came closer to her and grabbed her head from the jaw, forcing her to watch the bodies of her parents and older brother, among other people, being burned. He felt her face muscles twitching as she cried and tried to get free from his grip, fact that brought an almost sadistic satisfaction to him._

_Her watery eyes moved to her younger brother who was yelling for her. His heartrending screams were tearing her soul apart and she screamed along with him, the only thing she was able to do. The wooden bar shuddered violently for once more, as she grabbed the chains she was tied up and pulled them down. "Let him go, you bloody bastards" a shrill yell came directly from the depths of her throat, the moment the knife was over his torso. _

_The orcs smiled at her remorselessly and a final scream filled the air, before his voice and soul had faded away. The shriek she let was so acute and piercing, that made some of the orcs to cover their ears. The pale orc came closer and slapped her again brutally on the face to make her stop screaming. He didn't have to know elvish to understand that the words she spat out were some of the worst curses that could be uttered in this language, and let that sadistic satisfaction flood his body for once more._

_Arya was unable to control her sobs for the next hour, ready to let the content of her stomach spill out of her at the sight of her family being eaten by them. The pain she felt now was like nothing she had ever felt in her eighteen years of life. Grief and sorrow, or wrath and rage, did not reach the feelings that dominated inside her in the slightest. If she was fire, she would destroy and burn each and every one of them with the slowest, most painfully torturing way. But she wasn't. On the contrary, she was the one that was going to be tortured, in ways she did not even want to imagine. She was praying to the Valar to let the orcs kill her quickly, not wanting to face the imminent humiliation that would follow._

* * *

But many things, either for good or for bad, did not go as she thought they would. The Valar never heard her prayers that day. The orcs did not get the chance to torture, humiliate or play with her that day, or any day since. She killed those two that had stayed back to guard her and she managed to escape. Her little brother's trinket proved to be no lucky at all. And above all, she did not keep her promise that no one would hurt him.

* * *

**Honeg = Little brother**

**Ada = Dad**

**Iôn = Son**

**Nana = Mum**

**I know that this was a bit fillerish, but thought it important to write how her family was killed, to explain why it has affected her so much. I promise to repay you though, so lots of Kili/Arya moments in the next one. Stay tuned! **


	13. Chapter 12

**Thank all those who read, review, favorite or follow! I know I promised you more of our happy couple in this chapter, but it initially came out quite big, so I decided to turn it into two chapters instead of one. Which means that their moments will mostly be in the second one. But it is already written, it just needs a bit of editing, so if you would be so kind and wait for another two or three days, I owe you my gratitude!**

**Title taken ****from 'Immortality' by Pearl Jam.**

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_Vacate is the word, vengeance has no place so near to her, cannot find the comfort in this world_

* * *

Arya couldn't force the memory out of her mind the moment her gaze met those repulsive blue eyes again. It came back with the force of thousand stabs in her heart and another thousand in the rest of the body, all together at once. Those invisible blades were sharp and embed deeply in her already scarred flesh, opening wounds that would never be fully healed.

She didn't realize it, but her hand had clutched Thorin's arm. For a brief moment, she turned and looked back at Gandalf, who stared at her with pursed lips. She thought he was trying to convey something to her, to stay calm and not do anything harsh. But she already knew that. The time to transform into fire, in order to burn and torture those who had killed her family, had not come yet, for she certainly was at a disadvantage now, hidden on the branches of a tree near the edge of a cliff.

But that wasn't what Gandalf was trying to tell her. The wizard did not fear for a misstep of hers. He was worried about Thorin's reaction.

For the brief moment that she had turned to look back, Kili had caught her gaze, as his own was constantly fixed on her. Her look was grim, with memories, anger, sorrow and hatred ready to storm out of those dark eyes. It was this moment he realized that she didn't hate him. She wasn't even near. The looks she gave him all this time seemed almost friendly compared to the one that was spread on her face now. His gaze moved slightly from her to a large rock, where a white warg stood and he froze at the sight of the pale rider.

Thorin felt the Ranger's hand squeezing his arm and lifted his gaze to her face. Her look was quite worrying. But a loud growl, heavy paw steps and a familiar roar prompted him to turn his head to the direction she was staring at. And he was definitely not prepared to confront what he eventually did. "Azog?" he gasped.

The large white warg let a loud growl, exposing his teeth menacingly. Its rider started speaking in the black speech, making everyone unable to understand his words, except from his orcs of course.

The Ranger managed to catch a few words. He was saying something about Thorin, his father and fear. But Azog's words were the last thing she could pay attention to. What she took notice of was the uncontrollable shudder that ran through her body and her flammable rage.

"It cannot be" Thorin breathed out, shaking his head in disbelief.

Azog spoke in the orcs' language once more and the wargs hurtled towards the trees into frenzy. The beasts jumped, trying to catch them from the branches, scraping the trunk, biting and barking. The entire tree was shaking from the swaying movement they caused.

Two wargs jumped dangerously close to where Thorin was standing, to pull him down. He almost lost his balance, but the Ranger rammed one of her daggers consecutively on the beasts' heads and grabbed his hand to steady him.

The one that lost the balance was the tree they were standing. Each claw from the wargs made it sway even more and eventually the roots came on surface, causing the tree to lurch onto the others behind. All threw themselves to the branches of the other trees, clasping them tightly to avoid becoming the wargs' chewing toys below. They all ended up on the last tree, the one that stood, literally, in the edge of the cliff.

Arya gracefully jumped on the last tree, landing on a branch next to Fili, with her back scraping the trunk a bit. She winced in pain because of the wood's contact with her skin, but tried her best to hide it. She was in the least thankful that the brothers were safe and near her again.

Kili let a loud gasp as she stood upright, and thanked Mahal that he and his brother were next to her, in case something happened. He still considered her reckless and could not take in that she was able to defend herself, if not better, then at least equally good as them. The real question that tormented his mind was where all this sudden affection came from. "_Maybe it's the male's instinct to protect his female_" a small, creepy voice made its appearance in his head. He goggled in shock and terror. "_Not _his_ female. Definitely not his female. Just_ _the female. The _only_ female in the company. That's why this affection_" another commanding voice shut down the previous. He urged the disturbing thoughts to bury deep in his mind and focus on the present situation.

Everyone's minds were working feverishly, trying to come up with a way to save themselves. Until, a beam of light appeared.

"Naur, Mithrandir" the Ranger yelled at the wizard, who seemed to have the same thought.

Gandalf grabbed a pine cone, which he lit up with sparks out of his staff. Fiery pine cones were soon distributed in everyone's hands and flew over their heads to hit the wargs. The moment the pines touched the ground, it lit up. The beasts retreated, whimpering like scared dogs, as their fur and flesh was burned, and their leader let a piercing roar. All the dwarves started cheering that, for the time being, they had evaded the attack. Only the Ranger was deliberate, not to mention sad and angry, to cheer. She felt a slight shudder and it wasn't something that was caused by her own body.

Fili looked at her with a wide smile. "We are saved!" he exclaimed.

She looked back at him cautiously. "Fili, do you know which phrase sums up my life with great precision?"

The blonde dwarf shot her a confused look. "Which?"

"Whatever can go wrong, _will_ go wrong."

"I'm sure you exaggera- " he went to reassure.

But as she said, their luck did not hold for long. The ground beneath the tree began to shake, the tree staggered and soon the trunk was leveled, its last roots preventing it from falling in the darkness below.

"You were saying?" she voiced wryly through clenched teeth, trying to clutch a thick bough to steady herself. She saw all the dwarves struggle to clasp onto the trunk with every way they could, and their yells filled the air.

"No!"

"Gandalf!"

Ori slipped down but managed to grip the leg of one of his brothers, both trying to hold on to the tree. Kili was hanging from a branch and noticed with a look of fear his brother dangling and slipping down. He looked around, trying to find a way to reach him, but watched Arya swing her legs and wrap them around Fili's waist, managing to catch him. He heard her strangled groan as her already marred back twisted roughly from the added weight.

Arya was pulling Fili upwards, aiming to bring him as close as she could to the trunk so he could get a hold of it, rather than hanging from her. When she finally made it, Fili was safe and hanging from a thick branch, but her back was a tattered mess. Kili watched them with relief, both were safe, but he was still frightened that something could happen to them.

Thorin was scanning all of his comrades, checking everyone to see if they were safe. He saw the Ranger save Fili just in time before he could fall down and Kili try to reach them. He saw Ori hang from Dori's leg, who in turn was hanging from Gandalf's staff. He didn't know how they would escape this situation. What he only knew was that his great enemy stood before him, with an evil smile on his face. And then his mind went blank.

Arya saw the King stand upright on the trunk and strut forward, determinedly wielding his sword. It was a lot she had to take in just in one moment. All the dwarves' yells, the falling tree, her destroyed back and on top of all, Thorin moving to attack Azog. She thought that he would have some sense in his mind, but apparently not. She could understand the reason he desired to take revenge, the reason he wanted to finish off the orc once and for all, but now was certainly not the right time. Azog had killed her family too, yet in circumstances like those they were under right now, feelings should be suppressed and logic ought to prevail. "Come back! Thorin!" she screamed behind him. "This is what he wants, can't you understand?" She highly doubted that he had even listened to her.

The white warg jumped on the dwarf and brought him on the ground with an acute groan, as a large cut quickly was formed on his forehead.

"_You fool_" the Ranger thought in despair. She felt something touching her hand and saw Fili's hand clasp hers with a horrified look on his face. She turned around to watch his brother let a desperate yell, as he saw his uncle fall hard against the ground, and could feel nothing but sympathy towards them both. She imagined that the look on her face when her family was killed was similar to that of the brothers, but she had no one to comfort her back then. It was killing her not being able to grasp Kili's hand to comfort him now, when the expression on his face was full of pain and anger.

The white warg was running over Thorin and Azog brought his mace on his body, bringing him again on the ground in a whirlpool of loud growls and yells.

Arya's eyes reflexively shut and she felt her body aching, remembering the same thing happen to her all these years ago. She pulled herself up in an attempt to lean her weight over the trunk. All the dwarves' cries for their leader were heartbreaking, as the warg clutched Thorin between its teeth and sent him flying over a rock. The dwarf slammed severely on the rock, unable to take a grip of his sword that had landed a few feet away.

* * *

An orc was standing above Thorin, ready to take his head after Azog's order, when Bilbo's scream emerged through the chaos. The hobbit had got in the orc's way and repeatedly stabbed the foul creature with unprecedented vengeance.

The Ranger rushed in front of the hobbit, blocking its way, the moment four wargs stepped closer to kill him. Her eyes still harbored the same fiery gaze blazed with anger. "You will harm no one that I protect anymore" she growled, swinging her sword in her hands menacingly. She didn't mean it only for Bilbo, but for Thorin too. She was brought in this quest to protect them and didn't plan to lose one of them from the pale scum.

The pale orc's eyes narrowed, as the voice and the face of the woman sounded and seemed familiar. He would ask her who she thought herself to be and dared to come between him and his prey, but she spoke again. Words in a language he hadn't heard in a long time. His mind recalled a distant memory of those particular words uttered by a young woman, while his orcs were slaughtering and eating her family. His evil smile returned to his face and he ordered the orcs to bring him two heads instead of the dwarf's only.

His subjects did not have time to react as Fili, Kili and Dwalin rushed against them. They sliced the beasts' necks and heads, spilling blood everywhere. But they were the only ones who had managed to get away from the tottering tree and were soon outnumbered from the many wargs that surrounded them.

Arya was standing in front of Bilbo and squeezed her sword tightly, fuming in anger. The warg in front of her seemed already melt compared to her frothing rage. One move would be enough to send it to death. But there were still a considerable number of others that had a great chance of ripping them all apart. The moment she thought that hope had forsaken them, squawks came from above. "_Eagles?_" she pondered, surprised, and shot a quick glance to the sky. As it seemed, Gandalf had done his miracle again.

The huge birds had thankfully come to their aid and slammed trees over the wargs or tossed the beasts down the cliff. They clutched the dwarves in their claws from the tree and flew away, dropping them on other eagles' backs. Arya saw one come right at them and moved out of the way to let it take Bilbo. Another one lifted a quite motionless Thorin from the rock, but she was waiting others to come and take the three dwarves that stood beside her. The two brothers went to grab her hands and pull her with them, but she pushed them forward and watched as the large bird clasped them in its claws. She couldn't climb on a bird just yet; not until everyone else was safe and flying away from the place.

When every dwarf and the hobbit were safely removed from either the ground or the tree, it was her and Gandalf's turn. The wizard jumped directly from the tree to a bird's back that flew below him and the Ranger ran to the edge. It was the leap of faith; she hoped that there was a bird left for her. She flipped in the air and after a while, she felt grateful when her body clashed against soft feathers. A small gasp left her mouth and she turned her head back to see a roaring in anger Azog swing his mace, but able to do nothing to kill them now.

The eagles flew high over the mountains, under the faint gleam of the moon that was hidden behind dark clouds. They were saved. _For now_.

Arya felt that she couldn't hold the feelings and pain back anymore, so she let them overwhelm her entire body and mind. Logic could not prevail upon them now, as much determined she was to not let them flush her. It was too hard. Too hard to live it again, or to even think about it. But it was what she could only think about. The trail of her thoughts was momentarily cut from a voice.

"Thorin!" Fili cried, staring intensely along with his brother over the eagle that carried their uncle.

She could feel the fear in his cry. All the worry that hid behind it was more than obvious. But she didn't worry so much about the King. She knew he would be alright. She had survived from the hit of Azog's mace years ago, when she was almost a child. Thorin was a King, a tough dwarf; he would definitely survive. He had to, for his nephews, his comrades, the quest, their home. For the so many things, that in contrast to him, she no more had to survive for.

Kili's worried gaze strayed for a while and hovered over the other birds, searching for a particular someone. He caught a glimpse of long black hair flapping in the wind and a small figure laid on a bird's back. He saw her lean carefully close to its head and whisper something, all the while gently stroking its feathers. The eagle squawked lightly, shook its head and started gaining height, until it flew higher than all the others. He couldn't help but reckon that, as his brother had noted in the beginning of their journey, she indeed was an interesting creature. She seemed contented and sad, all at the same time. He didn't know why, but he wanted to know the reason for her current feelings. At least she was safe and he was relieved about that.

Arya was glad for her current position and height difference. It made it easier to hide the unwilling tears that rolled down her cheeks and were quickly dried from the wind. All those feelings she felt, when she saw her family being slaughtered, had returned now and were boiling inside her like the water in a cauldron placed over the fire for far too long. They were ready to erupt; and that eruption, it was something she was afraid of.

* * *

When the eagles landed on Carrock, Gandalf was already leaning over Thorin, whispering inaudible words. Bilbo was nervously waiting behind them and the dwarves did the same on the other side. The Ranger stood behind everyone, trying to curb the inner war in her mind that made her body shudder.

Thorin finally opened his eyes and inhaled sharply. "The halfling?" he breathed out with wide eyes.

Gandalf gave a crooked smile. "It's alright. Bilbo is here and he's safe."

Dwalin and his nephews ran to help Thorin up, but he fervently pushed them back. "You!" his hoarse voice accused. "What were you doing? You nearly got yourself killed!"

Bilbo had tried to save him and the King was yelling at him? "_Could you really be this incorrigible?_" Arya thought, feeling a sharp pain twinging her stomach.

"Did I not say that you would be a burden?" Thorin continued blaming him. "That you would not survive in the wild? That you had no place amongst us?" He paused and, surprisingly, the tips of his mouth curled upwards in a what could be perceived as a rare smile of his. "I've never been so wrong in all my life."

The Ranger shook her head in astonishment and momentarily felt glad despite her state. Courtesy and appreciation belonged to the King's range of emotions after all. Now to what degree, that remained to be seen. Besides her, everyone else cheered that Thorin had, in his own way, finally accepted the hobbit in the company.

"I am sorry I doubted you" Thorin continued, after hugging Bilbo.

"No, I would have doubted me too. I'm not a hero or a warrior. Not even a burglar."

The dwarves laughed loudly at his words. She would have laughed too, if the pain didn't increase in severity. The eagles circled around them and squawked merrily, prompting everyone to stare up to the sky, while Gandalf thanked their king for the help they offered.

"Is that... what I think it is?" the hobbit asked with an incredulous look, when his eyes caught something in the horizon.

Gandalf turned at the direction of where Bilbo was staring at. "Erebor. The Lonely Mountain. The last of the great dwarf kingdoms of Middle Earth" he declared.

"Our home" Thorin said proudly. It was the first time since long ago, that he actually allowed himself to feel somewhat moved. After all, he had just seen his long lost home after decades, it was only reasonable that he did.

All the dwarves applauded with wide smiles, clapping each other on their backs in joyful voices. They were safe and closer to their homeland. Only Arya felt her legs weakening and her vision blurring. She eventually fell on her knees, but managed to crawl closer to the edge of the rock, as a wave of nausea ascended her throat. She hadn't done it back then. But there was no way she could prevent it for a second time.

* * *

**Naur = Fire**


	14. Chapter 13

**Thank you so much for the reviews, follows and favorites, you guys are awesome! Now, to the burning topic. As I told you in the very first chapter, I plan to follow the timeline of the movie, so this one is going to be the last chapter for now. Please don't hate me, I swear that as soon as the second film is out, I will start writing again. ****I truly hope this, temporarily last, chapter is worthy of your expectations and as promised, Kili and Arya finally have a big, big scene together. Please review, I really want to know your opinion!**

**Also, my ability as an astronomer pays off in this one. I've used some constellations of our world that are visible in the northern hemisphere (where my country is) during the summer, and found their counterparts in the skies of Middle Earth. So according to my research, Wilwarin is Cassiopeia, Valacirca is Ursa Major and Soronúmë is, most likely, Aquila. I'm not sure if the movements of the celestial objects in Middle Earth are similar to ours, so if you know something more, feel free to correct!**

**Title taken ****from 'Fade into you' by Mazzy Star.**

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_A stranger's light comes on slowly, a stranger's heart without a home_**  
**

* * *

Kili turned around gleefully, waiting for her to stroll up to them and make a witty comment about his uncle's unorthodox apology to Bilbo. He thought she would be satisfied, since she had grown close to the hobbit during the journey. Instead, he noticed an extremely pale face and one hand pressing firmly against her stomach, as she had knelt near the edge. "Gandalf!" he yelled and rushed at her side.

His scream drew everyone's attention and all the smiles disappeared from their faces when they saw her too.

"Gandalf, come here!" Fili screamed, following his brother.

"What's the matter?" Thorin asked, turning to see his nephews run near the edge of the rock. He pushed in the small circle his comrades had created, to watch in surprise and slight shock the Ranger ceaselessly empty her stomach.

Arya felt someone's hand pulling her hair out of the way and a hand pressing on her shoulders. She couldn't stop. She couldn't control it. The picture of her family being eaten was constantly in front of her eyes and made her continue without an end.

The wizard approached her in a hurry. All the dwarves and the hobbit gathered around her, watching in awe and worry and wondering what caused it.

"Is she hurt?" Dori bawled.

"Is she poisoned?" Gloin piped up.

Every question made Kili more tensed and filled him with greater fear. If his heart could talk, he would curse him for causing it to beat so fast. He was holding her shoulder and could feel her body shuddering under his hand.

Ori had to add the finishing touch in the chaos of questions. "Is she going to die?" he asked terrified.

Kili's stomach twinged and he anxiously turned to look at Ori with a frightened expression. "_She cannot die!_" a voice simultaneously protested and pleaded in his mind.

Thorin rolled his eyes hearing the questions. "She won't die" he sighed. "People do not die of vomiting."

Arya paused momentarily as she heard the King's words, panting, "Give it a minute." A part of her found admirable the fact that even in such state, she had managed to keep the sarcasm mode on.

Gandalf had an arguable suspicion about what brought her to this state and knew that she wouldn't take it lightly if the dwarves learned the cause, so he hustled to save her from the incoming questions. "She's fine" he said and pushed the two brothers back from her.

"She's what?" Fili almost squeaked, doubt and deep concern flashing behind his eyes.

"She's not fine!" Kili protested at the same time. "She just vomited. How exactly she could be fine?"

Arya shot him a confused look, wondering since when he cared so much about her health. But the look was also pleading, for him to drop the matter.

The wizard glanced over the King, who seemed to catch up with the situation much better than his younger nephew. Thorin pulled Kili away from the woman and ordered, "Oin, check everyone's wounds; start with the Ranger. Those of you who are not hurt, help the others."

She went to protest and say that Oin should examine her last of all, but three firm gazes, belonging to Gandalf, Thorin and Oin, put off her decision to even open her mouth.

Kili made to move back to check on her, but Thorin's stern voice and hand stopped him again. "There are others who require aid as well" his uncle told him quietly, nodding to his other nephew pointedly.

Fili tentatively walked closer and took his brother out of their uncle's grip. He could see Kili being on edge and how often his gaze strayed towards her. He, too, was staring as the wizard helped her to lay down and Oin and Thorin came above her. Oin properly cleaned the wounds on her back with a wet cloth, which gradually turned red, and then went to smear a salve over. After applying a generous amount over the wounds, the dwarf handed it back to Gandalf, who had engaged in private discussion with Thorin.

"What happened to her?"

Gandalf raised his eyebrows in amusement and offered him a warning shake of his head. "I do not believe that the present moment is the most appropriate to ask of this" he whispered in the dwarf's ear with a benevolent, yet still scheming, look.

"And why is that?"

Arya was lying motionless, staring at empty space, and memories were blazing behind her eyes. But she was never off guard. "You are aware that I am next to you, right?" Her voice sounded flat, albeit a tad amused as the King turned around with a dumbfounded look.

"I am, yes" Thorin said, perplexed and unable to take her hint. "Your point being?"

"If you are about to gossip me, you should place yourself in a fair distance" she said unemotionally and her hand pointed at her ears.

The dwarf tried to hide the disturbing hint of a smile that threatened to appear on his face, temporarily having forgotten that she possessed the hearing of the Elves. "It was not my intention to gossip you." He sounded slightly offended. "I only inquired after the cause of your disconcerting incident." There were other, additional questions flooding his mind, regarding her bizarre reaction to the pale orc, but he would like to discuss them with her privately and away from prying ears and eyes.

"The cause derives from a night, ten years ago. The effect chose this day to come to sight."

Thorin didn't actually got the underlying meaning behind her words, and saw that she wasn't in the mood for further explanation. Not yet, at least. So their conversation, or rather his interrogation of her, was cut short for the time being. Oin was currently smearing the salve on the now cleaned scars, expecting her to scream or at least twinge from the tingle any moment now. However, she didn't even move an inch. This pain was nothing compared to the one that had rekindled inside her -if it was ever extinguished entirely- and seemed capable to turn every fibre of her body into ash.

"Lass, are you sure that you're alright? You should have blown our ears out from screaming by now" Oin asked, uncertain if she actually was in her right mind.

The Ranger let a disheartening laugh that made her scars twinge and her wince, but she effectively hid it. "I am used to the pain, master Oin."

"You may be indeed, but the cuts are pretty deep."

She made a dismissive motion. "It is fine, honestly."

The dwarf produced a small bandage out of his cloak. "We have to wrap it around you" he said awkwardly, as she should strip her clothes off in order to wrap it.

"I can take over from here myself. Thank you."

The dwarf nodded, giving her a smile, clapped her shoulder and left her there, in order to tend the rest injured members. He left the bandage next to her so she would wrap it by herself.

"I believe you could also use this, my dear" Gandalf's voice came behind her. She turned her head and saw him holding a white, clean piece of clothing. "Lord Elrond's offer" he said with a smile.

Arya didn't have the heart to smile back and just limited to nod at him.

"Your cousin would not be particularly inclined to watch you in this state" the wizard said just loud enough for her to hear alone.

She raised her eyebrows warily. "I am not inclined to watch myself in this state as well. But it had to come out and my cousin should better not be informed about it. Now, if you'll excuse me" she deadpanned and retreated to a more secure place to put some salve on the cuts in her front and wrap the bandage around her torso.

* * *

Gandalf saw the eagles come back, carrying some supplies for the company. The dwarves rushed to form a wide circle around where the food was placed. Soon, a fire was lit from the dry boughs the birds had brought along with the food, and the meat was ready to be placed upon the fire. When the meal was ready and cooked, Thorin had Kili distribute the food to everyone, in order for his nephew to avoid any interaction with the Ranger. He had reckoned just by the look on her face before, that she wanted to stay alone. However, he failed to notice that his older nephew had gone to her aid.

Fili peered curiously into the spot she lay before, but didn't found her there. He searched around and caught a glimpse of something that looked like skin. Horrified, he was ready to turn about and give her the proper privacy to change clothes, but her voice stilled him to the spot.

"No sense of personal space, dear Fili?" she remarked casually, while putting her bracers back on her forearms.

The blonde dwarf pursed his lips, internally cursing his luck that she caught him there. "I am honestly sorry, I didn't mean to-" he apologized with a frown of regret. Under normal circumstances he would definitely make a comment on the event, but now he felt an unprecedentedly high amount of guilt swallowing him.

She appeared on his right side in a matter of seconds, all dressed up in her new tunic. "Let's not have that happen again, shall we?" she said and tapped his shoulder.

Fili exhaled loudly, a breath he didn't realize to be holding, relieved that she wasn't mad at him. But it was beyond his boundaries of solemnity and eventually his mood for teasing emerged. "Besides, _someone_ would punch me if I saw you naked" he said with a roguish grin, before his expression turned thoughtful. "Actually he would do something worse, but it wouldn't be proper to say it in front of you."

Arya turned to face him with a quizzical brow, absentmindedly scratching some small cuts on her arms. "I don't know who would care to defend my honor and punch you, but you should be certain that I would scalp you" she warned jestingly and walked closer to the fire. She noticed that food had made appearance out of nowhere and the dwarves were eating, laughing and discussing merrily.

Bilbo came closer to her, holding a piece of bread in his one hand. "Would you like to eat, my Lady?" he offered, happily chewing something that she presumed to have been meat, judging by the remains he held in the other hand.

Her appetite could not be in lower levels. "No Bilbo, thank you, but I'm not hungry" she said softly. She talked to no one else, only drank some water.

Apparently, the dwarves were in the mood for talking. "How are you faring, lass?"

"I would not consider it as a particularly good day for my body, my dear Balin."

The old dwarf smiled kindly and made no further questions. He could see that she had enough of those already.

When Kili saw her return to them, he walked over to talk to her, but the hobbit got there before him. He was at least glad that she was fine and dressed up in a new garment and not the old one, which had turned into a tatter. When Bilbo moved away from her, Kili anew tried to earn her attention, but was again interrupted by the questions of other dwarves. For goodness sake, he wanted to talk to her too. He was growing impatient that they practically did not give her a break, or him a chance to even open his mouth.

"Would you all be so kind as to quiet down?" Kili cried out, throwing his hands about exasperatedly, and all turned their gazes to him with similar perplexed expressions.

Even Arya stared at him for the briefest of moments, sending him a questioning glare, but quickly retreated her gaze, wondering what made him burst like that. The dwarf was a moving riddle, sometimes even worse than Gandalf. And that said _a lot_.

After an uneasy silence of some moments that seemed to be long minutes, the dwarves returned to their merry discussions, completely deleting the small event from their minds. Kili's attention was drawn when his brother came and sat next to him.

A little farther from them, Dwalin approached her with something that could pass for a smile and tapped her shoulder, while gobbling up a piece of roast rabbit. "You got us quite worried, Ranger."

"You are not going to get rid of me so easily, as much as some of you might want" she sighed, nodding over a certain dark-haired dwarf at the last words.

Bofur was standing right next to them and overheard. Both dwarves glanced at each other and shared a chuckle. "I'd wager that the last thing the lad wants is to get rid of you!" Bofur remarked with a titter.

Arya shrugged indifferently and walked away from them. She laid down near the edge, staring over the horizon and occasionally throwing small stones down the rock. She didn't move from that spot at all.

"Kili, can you pass the water?" Dori asked.

The young prince seemed completely impervious, lost in his own small world, and didn't even catch a word. His gaze was pinned on Arya's back, observing even her slightest movement.

"Lad?" Bombur piped up, trying to gain his attention.

Again, no reaction.

Fili rolled his eyes impatiently and elbowed his brother, receiving a very surprised glance.

"What was that for?" Kili protested in a high-pitched voice, rubbing the place his brother elbowed him.

"If your eyes didn't put down roots on a certain someone's back, you would know" Dwalin mumbled.

Haughtily scowling at the reactive blush that spread on Kili's face when Dwalin spoke, Thorin grumbled something inaudible through his teeth and told his nephew what Dori had asked. Kili sheepishly handed the water to the dwarf and returned to his seat, once more unable to take his gaze off her.

"Are you trying to move her with your eyes or something?" Fili teased.

"Shut up, dear brother" Kili said and glared at him, but his mood turned into playful zest and then winked. "And I owe you an elbow, do not forget that."

Fili noticed the look and the subsequent scolding they were about to receive from Thorin and immediately changed the subject of the conversation. The rest of the day went just like that. The dwarves were talking and cheering in high pitched voices, the hobbit was wandering about and stared at the mountains and forests that surrounded Carrock, the wizard was participating in every discussion and the Ranger was laying silently alone.

* * *

Night fell upon them and everyone found a place on the rock to lie down. Hardly anyone could harm them up there, so they decided not to have someone keep watch during the night. Light snoring and even breaths could be heard from every spot on the large rock, with the exception of two.

Arya had not moved at all the whole day. She only shifted from her side to her back and again on her side, since the scars on her back were scratchy and annoying. Sleep would not come to her and sincerely, she didn't want it to come. She was sure of what nightmares would haunt her, fact that caused her to pray again not to ever sleep or even think. But this was unlikely to happen, since her mind was actually unstoppable. "_Thoughts are hard things to control, and especially the ones in your head, gwethil_" was one of Aranethon's favorite quotes and he always reminded her of it, when she seemed ready to explode from the excessive thinking.

Kili was still awake, with his gaze locked on her. He could see her eyes sparkle under the moonlight and her drawn features, as she was gazing blankly at the night sky and shifting around uneasily. This time, though, he was determined to get up, sit beside and talk to her. And if, with his luck, anyone woke up and went to talk to her first, he was seriously considering the possibility to throw him off the rock.

"You should be sleeping."

Her voice made him jump in surprise. He thought she did not hear him approach. "No, _you_ should be sleeping. You are injured, you need rest" he said softly.

"I can't find any."

"Why?"

"For numerous reasons."

"Then it is fortunate that we have plenty of time."

She tilted her head frustratingly from side to side and whispered, "Can you please leave me in peace? I did nothing to annoy you this time."

"You did actually. Those marks shouldn't be on your back" he chided. "Or front, for that matter."

"Look, I know I owe you a fight, but now is not the time."

Kili frowned, wondering what made her so edgy. She seemed very glum and doleful, not to mention the incident with her vomit earlier this day. This had brought him to the verge of worry. "Do you feel better than before?"

"Yes." Her voice was the exact opposite of sincere.

"You're not convincing me."

"I am not trying to" came her reflexive answer in a dispirited sigh.

He let a small huff, but his expression turned mulish. There was no way he was going to give up so easily. "So, you're alright then?"

"Do I look like I am?"

He shot her an inquisitive look. "Not quite."

"Now that you have your answer, go."

He ignored her order for once more and insisted to know why her mood was sour, "Do you want to talk about- "

"No."

"Is there anything I can do- "

"No."

"Do you want me to- "

"Go back to sleep and leave me alone? Yes."

His stubbornness was bubbling and emerged thicker than ever. "I was going to ask if you wanted me to keep you some company" he said and sat closely behind her, cross legged, with an examining look. She seemed so tiny now that she was curled up in a ball, compared to her intimidating figure while fighting.

Arya saw him sit silently behind her, but paid no attention. She thought that by ignoring him, he would eventually leave.

For a mysterious reason, Kili didn't like to watch her sulk and frown like this. A great urge was burning inside him to do anything that would take all her troubles away. Something popped into his mind and he took something out of his cloak, sliding the chain that held it over her head. He had used a small silver chain of his own to hang it there. "I have serious reasons to believe that this belongs to you."

Her head moved slightly to take a good look of what he was holding, eyes going wide at the sight of it. "How did you...? Where did you get that?" she whispered in disbelief, turning her head to face him.

He took a fake, professedly serious look. "I searched for it. And if you had cultivated the virtue of patience as much as I have, you would have found it before me."

She purposefully ignored his quip about her patience, aware that it would probably lead to a fight in the middle of the night. Nevertheless, she was astonished, taking gradual glimpses of him and the pendant. "I... suppose I should thank you?" she mumbled.

"No, there is no need- "

"Thank you" she interrupted him with a stern voice.

He tried to keep his face motionless, although he wanted to smirk at her weird exclamation of gratitude.

She would have asked him why he even bothered to search for it, had not the memories and thoughts inundated her head. So she made a mental note to ask in another moment, when her mind would function properly. She thought that after giving her this, he would leave. But he stayed there.

Kili saw her gaze turn up to the night sky again. She twitched a little bit, before finding a position to be comfortable enough, for the wounds on her back were still fairly painful. He lied down next to her and stared at the sky too.

They were silent for some minutes before she spoke. "Do you know any constellations?" She wondered what prompted her to say that, or why she decided to even speak at all.

He smiled faintly. "Balin had taught me some when I was a child, but I have quite forgotten them by now."

In a swift move, she took his hand in hers and pointed up. "The one in the shape of 'w' is Wilwarin and this is Valacirca. Varda placed them in the sky to welcome and enlighten the Elves that woke in the Sea of Helcar. The one that looks like an eagle is Soronúmë." Her hand was leading his, creating invisible lines in the air, where the wings should be. "Varda traced it in the sky before the Awakening." She paused and let a sigh. "My mother was teaching me and my older brother about the stars and constellations when we were young. I was trying to teach them to my little brother as well, but he was always complaining that they were too many to remember them all and that I was confusing him" she concluded with a melancholic tone and a light giggle.

The gurgling sound filled his ears and evoked a strange feeling inside him. The tips of his mouth curled, his eyebrows rose slightly and his gaze softened. A small smirk was starting to spread on his face and it was genuine and sincere. He hadn't realized he was actually smirking because of her.

As she turned to face him, couldn't help but see it. He was almost... glowing? She felt her chest warming at the sight. "You should smile more often. Your whole face lights up" she remarked casually and turned her gaze to the stars again.

Kili tried to hide an unwilling blush that crept up on his cheeks, not exactly sure how or if he should answer. "I will try, I suppose?" he said questioningly, quite awkward with the turn of the conversation. It was relishing to hear her giggle before, since it was something that only happened in selected moments and, oh surprise, he was not present in most of them. At least the sulking had disappeared for a while. It was then when he noticed the airy fabric of her new tunic weathering in the breeze and her shivering lightly but paying no attention to it. "Where is your cloak?"

Arya shrugged her shoulders indifferently. "If my assumption is correct, it has turned into goblins' breeches."

He couldn't fight the low chuckle that left his mouth, but quickly remembered she was shivering. "You are cold."

It was an assertion, not a question, and she didn't even bother to debate it. But no, she wasn't cold. Her body might be, but she didn't feel something. She couldn't feel anything, either being pain from the wounds or cold from the breeze. There was not something that could affect her body now. Only her soul.

A strong shiver pierced her and Kili was positive that he could not fight the urge anymore, so he scooted himself closer.

His move alarmed her. "What are you doing?"

He pulled her body tightly close to his, in order to have her tucked in his coat, and slid his arm under her head, so she could use it as a pillow. "It would be very unfortunate if you fell ill."

"So we have to stay glued to one another, for me to not fall ill?" she inquired. "In which way does that even make any sense? Couldn't you just give me your coat to prevent me from getting cold?"

His expression was more than hilarious as he feigned hurt. "And you would let _me_ freeze, then?"

"Your chivalry is just _shocking_" she whispered sarcastically, cocking her head from side to side in light-hearted astonishment.

Kili grinned at her reply. Even in a sulky mood, her reactions remained witty and this was something he greatly appreciated in a person. "It is pure survival instinct. Besides, you need to be warmed up and body heat is a sublime way to achieve this. I am not going to let you freeze."

Arya eyed him warily, examining every detail of his face. She was still reserved regarding his changing behavior, but she couldn't deny her surprise at the courtesy he showed, even if he did so in his own weird way. She was stunned that he was actually having a conversation with her, which was decent and did not involve any expletives. It was very bizarre that they still had not reached the critical point in their small talk that would ignite a fight, since this point usually came during the first words they would exchange. It was also bizarre that she felt somewhat tranquil in his embrace and all the hurtful thoughts evacuated her mind for some redemptive moments.

His present actions reminded her of a stranger, not the arrogant, peevish dwarf she had met in Bag End. "Who are you and what have you done to Kili?" she asked, bewildered.

His body stilled momentarily and a shudder ran through him as he heard her utter his name in his presence for the very first time. She had the same feeling penetrating her when she came to the same realization. They didn't notice it, but they were staring in each other's eyes for quite a while.

"Meaning?" his voice interrupted the staring contest.

"Since when do you care for my physical integrity and temperature?"

"Now, don't get too cocky. I am a prince and was raised to act like a gentleman. I would never leave a woman to get cold, even if it's you."

She felt small twinges in her stomach, but didn't know what part of his sentence caused this. She suppressed a deep urge to kick him in the shin, as his speech of stern affection continued.

"I also pity those who have puked all what they have eaten for the past months."

Arya rolled her eyes exasperatedly and sneered, "And you're back to your usual self." For once more she had been momentarily deluded. He probably didn't even care if she was cold. Perhaps what he wanted was to mock her because of her earlier incident. Still, why would he insist on warming her up if he only wanted to mock her?

"Though I have to admit, it was an exquisitely pleasant sight" he said with a smirk.

She looked up to his face, all the while measuring the distance between them. He definitely was within range if another wave of nausea decided to pay a visit. "If you enjoyed it that much, I would be happy to repeat it and have your face act as the target this time."

It was obvious from her face and tone that she was joking, but he couldn't oust the small tug of worry that settled in his chest in the thought that it could happen again. "On a second thought, it might not have been that pleasant."

"I thought so" she said matter-of-factly and turned her eyes up to the sky, but not failing to notice the flash of worry in his. Well, maybe he did care after all, though only a little, for sure.

He felt his heart sinking when the gloomy look smeared her face again. He took her hand in his, slowly stroking her knuckles with his thumb, and quietly asked, "Why don't you try to sleep?"

She took a heavy breath, causing her chest to rise and fall quickly and a frown to form on her face from the stretching of her sore body. "I'm afraid of what I might see" she whispered.

Kili placed his hand on her stomach and started creating circles across it with his fingers. He bore his eyes into hers and faced one of her looks that he would store in his memory as utterly priceless, a small chuckle ready to evade his lips any moment now.

"Are you trying to kill me in your own weird ways?" she asked in utter confusion.

He laughed under his breath in response, wondering if she always was so skeptic and suspicious of other people. "I am trying to get you to sleep" he whispered.

"Good luck with that" she snorted in both amusement and disbelief. But to be completely honest, she didn't mind at all the movement of his hand. On the contrary, she quite enjoyed it. It was not something significant, but it was soothing and palliating at the same time. "You're tickling" she noted a few moments later and he removed his hand, thinking that it was annoying her. She had a different opinion though, so she clasped his hand and placed it over her stomach again. "It was a statement, not a complain."

He smiled faintly and continued the smooth movement. Her hair was tickling his jaw as she kept her gaze fixed on the sky and the stars. None of the two spoke further and they both sank into their thoughts, which quite frequently, surprisingly and disturbingly consisted of each other.

Arya managed to sleep after a couple of hours, with his fingers either drawing circles across her stomach or stroking the knuckles of her hands. Kili did not leave her even for a moment from his firm embrace and fell asleep some time after she had, with a deep need not to let anyone hurt her again.

* * *

**Gwethil = Sister**


End file.
